


When the Walls Go Down

by Dreamshaper



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: F/F, Figuring out how to work together, Getting to Know Each Other, and people butting heads, and some clueless Helena, some hurt/comfort in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:47:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28505457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: After the amusement park fight, Helena, Dinah and Renee start working together as the Birds of Prey. While getting used to each other and figuring out how to work as a team, things might also be developing between Helena and Dinah.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 139
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This one starts pretty much right after the movie, so for once, it's not an AU XD I hope you guys will enjoy :D

Helena hasn’t been sure that Renee is actually serious when she has suggested the three of them team up and “clean up Gotham from the inside out”, as she had put it, like one of the cops in the movies Luca always has loved to watch; she hasn’t really had anything better to do though, and so, she has given the woman her number, and Renee has reassured her that she’d call her.

Renee has headed out shortly after that, claiming that she needs some rest after all that excitement; and so, Dinah and Helena have stayed behind, Helena feels a bit awkward sitting here with Dinah alone, but it feels wrong to just walk away and leave her at this taco place, especially after Harley has stolen the poor woman’s car.

“So”, Dinah says, distracting her from her thoughts, “you’re Helena Bertinelli? For real?”

If Renee or maybe Harley would have asked that, Helena might have been annoyed or angered, but Dinah has complimented her on her chosen name of  _ Huntress _ , and that gives her some leeway in Helena’s eyes; she nods, not sure what else to say, but then, she hardly ever knows what to say, when she’s not about to kill people and asks them if they know who she is.

_ And even that you practiced in front of the mirror _ , she reminds herself, a not unimportant detail which she keeps to herself though; Dinah raises her brows and lets out a low whistle, and Helena feels awkward again, not sure what the proper reaction to that is.

“Sorry”, Dinah says, apparently taking her silence as a sign for offence, “but… you know everyone and their grandma thinks you’re dead, right.”

“Of course I know”, Helena says, perhaps a bit gruffer than expected, as Dinah raises her eyebrows again, “that was the whole point of… everything.”

She shuts her mouth with an audible  _ click _ , mortified at how casually she almost has revealed part of the story of her life to Dinah; if the singer notices though that Helena has stopped herself from saying something and has corrected herself in the last second, she’s kind enough to not point it out, finishing her drink instead and letting out a yawn as the exhaustion of the night’s events finally start taking a toll.

“Alright”, she says, stretching and wincing as now, her body starts making the various pains and ouches from the evening known, and for a moment, she wonders if Helena feels that as well, she can see that the woman has taken cuts on her arms and low on her jaw, but she seems completely unfazed, “I guess we better get moving, too, or I’ll fall asleep right here in this booth.”

Helena just gives a sharp nod, and stands up so fast that her legs bump the table; luckily, she doesn’t throw it over, as that would have sent everything on it flying towards Dinah, the singer still quick to get up as well though, just to be on the safe side.

“I guess I’ll see you”, Dinah says as they walk to the door together, raising her eyebrows in appreciation when Helena makes her way to the bike parked nearby; she has seen it before, but only in the rearview mirror when she’s been driving Zsasz to the Booby Trap, and she can tell it’s a bit banged up, but it’s clearly still functional, the engine roaring to life when Helena turns the key.

“See you soon”, Helena stiffly says, then pulls on her helmet and obscures her face; Dinah blinks as the woman drives away without as much as another word or a wave goodbye, she has somewhat been hoping that Helena would offer her a ride, what with her car being gone, but apparently, the assassin has no intention of doing so.

She shakes her head to herself at that weirdness, and sighs as she realizes she’ll just have to walk; at least, she tells herself in an attempt to lighten her own mood, the taco joint isn’t too far from her home, but she feels sore and tired, and she really would have preferred to be given a ride.

With a small sigh, Dinah gets moving, not walking too fast, but not loitering, either, this perhaps isn’t one of the most dangerous parts of town, but it’s not a nice one, either; she knows she can defend herself, if necessary, but she hopes she won’t have to, she has just spent quite a while fighting a whole bunch of men, and she really doesn’t want to get into another fight right away.

As she walks, she finds herself wondering if Huntress - Helena - is just as drained and just better at hiding it, but it seems unlikely; she has seen her right after the fight at the amusement park though, and while Renee and Dinah herself have been somewhat winded, Helena barely has been out of breath, having appeared a bit disheveled, but certainly not as if she just has fought a whole bunch of guys out for blood.

_ Damn, I wonder what she was doing since that shit at the mansion _ , Dinah ponders, figuring that she might as well pass the time walking home thinking about that,  _ how old was she when that happened, I wonder? Wait, that all went down fifteen years ago, and she seems to be my age. _

An engine approaches, and slows, and Dinah automatically looks, halfway expecting one of Sionis’ surviving creeps to drive up and come after her; instead, she’s surprised to see that it’s Helena on her bike, almost as if her thoughts have summoned her, and she stops walking, Helena pulling up and stopping next to her, using one hand to move her visor up afterwards.

“Um, hey”, she says, in that stilted, awkward tone Dinah has heard from her before, when Helena has paid her that weird compliment about kicking high in her tight pants, “I realized Harley took your car. So. Need a ride?”

“Oh yeah, please”, Dinah says at once, relieved that the assassin has come back; she wouldn’t have held a grudge if Helena hadn’t, but she appreciates the thought, and she figures it’s better that Helena has come back with a bit of a delay than not having come back at all. 

“I got no spare helmet”, Helena says matter of factly, “but I’ll try to drive carefully. Address?”

Dinah tells her where she lives, even though she has known the woman for literally a few hours; she feels like she can trust Helena though, and that is a good thing, she reflects as she gets onto the bike behind her, not only does she not have a helmet, but no other protective gear, either, so she’ll have to trust Helena to stick to her word and not drive like a maniac.

Still she wraps both arms around her once she securely sits behind her; for a few seconds, she can feel Helena go tense, but whatever it is, she shrugs it off quickly, the engine roaring to life again, Dinah instinctively holding on to her a bit tighter.

It feels like she’s hugging a stone pillar, she thinks to herself as Helena starts to drive, thankfully keeping her word and not speeding down the road; it feels as if Helena is made of pure muscle, and that muscle is tense beneath her arms and hands.

Perhaps, Dinah ponders, it’s the left-over adrenaline from the fight, or simply the fact that she hasn’t really been close to anyone in a long time, but feeling this does something to her, and she has to focus hard to keep her mind out of the gutter as Helena drives.

It’s the fight, she tells herself, the fight and the aftermath, certainly nothing else.


	2. Chapter 2

Renee calls Dinah in the afternoon of the next day, immediately informing her that she quit at the force - after her asshole boss apparently had taken credit for her work  _ again _ \- and letting her know she is ready to get started right away; Dinah points out that she has no car to get anywhere and offers that they can meet at her place, and not only because she has no way to drive anywhere, but also because her muscles are sore from the previous evening’s fighting, and she likes the thought of not going anywhere for the day.

Renee agrees to that, and lets her know she’ll call Bertinelli next; Dinah agrees to that, feeling vaguely excited when she ends the call, and she’s honest enough with herself to admit that she looks forward to meeting Helena again, the woman intrigues her and she wants to get to know her better.

Ten minutes later, Renee sends her a text and lets her know that Helena has agreed to the meeting and that they will be at her place at eight; she adds Helena’s number and the request that Dinah text her address to the other woman, Dinah merely sending a thumbs up back, not bothering to tell her that Helena has given her a ride the previous evening and already knows where she lives.

With the time and place for the meeting settled, Dinah realizes she doesn’t really have much to do for the rest of the day; and she realizes that she has no snacks or drinks to offer, and realizes she’ll have to go out after all, to her slight dismay.

She doesn’t want to be a bad host though, and so, she puts on clothes suitable for going out; a glance into her wallet makes her dismayed again, she doesn’t have much cash left, having lived pretty much paycheck to paycheck while she has been working for Sionis, and now, that source of income is gone too, having been blown to bits at the Gotham harbour.

_ You’ll figure something out _ , she tells herself as she pockets the wallet,  _ you always have so far. _

For the moment, she’s just glad that she’s not working for Sionis anymore, the man has been a creep already when she’d been his singer and has gotten even worse and more touchy-feely when she’s been “promoted” to driver; with him gone for good though, Dinah tells herself not to bother about him anymore, and focuses on the task at hand, leaving her apartment and heading to the deli nearby.

She gets two sixpacks of beer, which seems like quite a bit for three people, but she has seen how fast Montoya has put the margarita away the other day, and several packs of chips and other snacks; figuring that this is enough, she then heads back to her apartment and puts the beer into the fridge, then sits down and grabs her phone, figuring she might as well start looking for jobs.

Dinah tries hard to focus on that, she really does, but she keeps thinking to the meeting ahead, and keeps wondering how the three of them truly will work together, if everything will work out or if the idea of the three of them teaming up will die as fast as it has been born.

* * *

Punctually at eight, there’s a knock at Dinah’s door, and she’s not surprised to find Helena when she opens, somehow, she has known the woman would be right on time; she finds herself smiling before she consciously realizes she is doing it as she greets the taller woman, even though her smile fades a bit when Helena just gives a terse nod, a gesture she repeats when Dinah asks her to come in and offers her a seat.

Dinah doesn’t need a degree like Harley to be able to tell that Helena isn’t exactly comfortable; she sits on the couch so stiff that her spine might as well have been replaced with a steel rod, her hands resting on her thighs, and glances around the apartment, looking at everything but at Dinah, and if Dinah hadn’t seen her act so awkward the previous evening, she would have felt insulted.

“So”, she says, just to break the uncomfortable silence, and that at least makes Helena look directly at her, “you want a beer? I guess Renee will be here any moment, but we don’t have to wait with the drinks for her to arrive.”

She realizes she is starting to ramble and makes herself shut up, if only so Helena has the chance to answer her question; she could have kept talking though, since Helena just gives another short nod, and Dinah has to fight the urge to shake her head as she makes her way to the kitchen to get the beers.

Helena still sits on the couch when she returns, back ramrod-straight and her gaze fixed on something ahead of her; she takes the beer when Dinah offers it though, then opens it and seems to empty half of it in one gulp, Dinah raising her brows, quite impressed at this speed.

“You hurt your throat yesterday?” she then wants to know as she sits down and opens her own can, realizing Helena hasn’t said a word so far; the assassin looks at her oddly, then says “no”, not bothering to add anything else, and Dinah now has to fight a frown, she can’t remember ever having had a conversation so difficult.

“You’re not very talkative then, are you”, she says, trying to sound light and not fully serious, not wanting to offend the assassin; Helena just shrugs, and takes another sip of her beer, and Dinah feels absurdly relieved when there’s another knock at her door.

“That has to be Renee”, she unnecessarily says, not surprised when Helena just nods again; she gets up from her seat and opens the door, and it really is Renee, the singer raising an eyebrow when she sees that the former cop has brought a sixpack of her own.

“I thought of buying beer, you know”, she comments as she takes it from her, “but let me put that in the fridge for you anyway, in case we all get very thirsty. Crossbow’s already downed most of her first can.”

“I’m not the Crossbow Killer”, Helena snaps, and Dinah turns to raise her eyebrows at her; she halfway expects Helena to react sheepishly, perhaps become aware of her outburst, but the assassin just glares at her, jaw set now, not looking away again this time. 

“Okay”, Dinah decides to be the one to back down after another second of that staring duel, Renee looking amused as she walks past her to sit down, “ _ Huntress _ has downed half of hers already. Better?”

This at least stops the glaring, but Helena still doesn’t look happy; shrugging it off for now, Dinah goes to the put the beer Renee has brought into the fridge, then grabs one of the cooled cans for her and returns to the living room, handing the drink to Renee before she sits down again.

“So”, Renee says, after having opened the beer and having taken a long sip of it, “let’s talk, shall we?”

Dinah nods, excited, and Helena nods, looking stoic, and as Renee starts explaining her ideas, Dinah gets more excited still while Helena keeps looking pretty much neutral, and Dinah finds herself wondering if she will still be in when this meeting is over or if she’ll leave as fast as she has appeared in this city… and she hopes it won’t be the second option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things Helena has learned in Sicily: how to fight, how to be awesome with her crossbow  
> Things Helena hasn't learned in Sicily: how to talk to people  
> XD


	3. Chapter 3

Dinah hasn’t really been sure where they’d find criminals to fight, but Renee correctly has pointed out that Gotham is full of them, all they have to do is go out and keep their eyes open; and so, this is what they do in the next night, they meet in one of the shadier parts of town, and Dinah is somewhat relieved that Helena is there.

The woman has proven that she’s not very talkative the previous evening, as Renee and Dinah have been making plans for their newly formed group; Helena mostly has been sitting there, nodding every now and then, having been the most vocal when she’s let out vaguely agreeing grunts, but she is here now, so Dinah figures it’s okay.

“Hey”, she greets the assassin as Renee and she get out of the former cop’s car at their meeting point, Renee having picked her up due to her lack of a vehicle of her own, “ready to kick ass?”

Helena lets out a vaguely agreeing grunt in reply, and Renee snickers, unimpressed by the hard look the tall woman sends her way, still smirking when she gestures at her, Dinah unable to hold back a slight smile of her own at what the former cop says.

“Look at her”, she states, Helena crossing her arms over her chest, but that makes her biceps bulge visibly, so she only proves Renee’s words to be right, “she’s ready to kick ass at all times. I bet you could wake her from deep sleep at three a.m. and she’d be ready to kick ass.”

“Yes”, is all Helena has to say to that, and Dinah’s smirk widens slightly; this prompts Helena to blink in confusion, but she doesn’t say anything, just nodding when Renee declares them ready to go.

The former cop takes a moment to pull on her brass knuckles, and Dinah can see that Helena once again carries her crossbow and has knives and bolts strapped to her thighs; this briefly makes her regretful that she has no weapon of her own, but then, she mostly fights with kicks anyway, and she knows how hard she can kick.

Still she reminds herself not to get cocky as they get moving; Renee is leading the way, knowing the streets here the best out of the three of them, and as Dinah walks along next to Helena, she can tell the woman is on edge, glancing around as they walk, keeping her hand near her crossbow so she can grab it the second she’ll need it.

For a moment, Dinah considers telling her to relax, then decides against it, she doesn’t know the woman well yet, but she can tell it would be the wrong thing to say; and so, she says nothing, just sneaks a glance at Helena as they walk side by side.

The evening’s somewhat warm for Gotham standards, so Helena has left her jacket at her bike, and just like during the amusement park fight, she’s wearing a sleeveless shirt, in black this time; and now that Dinah has time for a proper look, she has to admit Helena’s build is impressive, she does look as if she’s ready to kick ass at all times, and it’s obvious she spends a lot of time working out, judging from how muscular her arms are.

Dinah has always had a thing for tall, dark and jacked, and she has to admit that Helena checks all those boxes, but so far, the woman hasn’t said more than five words to her, not counting the weird compliment at the taco place, so Dinah shelves those thoughts for now, strictly telling herself she has other things to worry about right now.

“Up ahead”, Renee says, as if to confirm Dinah’s thoughts, “that building on the right. It used to be a restaurant, now it’s the hideout for some gang of muggers. We’ve always tried to nail them when I was still at GCPD, but never successfully, now we can take them down.”

“Sounds good”, Dinah agrees, figuring that this sort of small time gang will be a good start, to see how they work as a team, if this truly will work out; it has sounded good the previous evening, but Dinah knows there is a big difference between theory and practice, and now, they truly will learn if this team has a chance or if it will be better for them to split up and for each of them to go their own way.

She can tell that there’s a bunch of people in the place Renee has pointed out to them, but they are moving around and the lighting is bad, so she’s not sure how many; clearly, Helena has no such troubles though, sounding cool and confident now when she speaks up, and why wouldn’t she, Dinah thinks to herself, clearly, this is something she is very good at.

“Seven”, she says, sounding so secure that Dinah doesn’t doubt her for a second, “I can probably take down two with the crossbow before they even realize we are there. Then there’ll only be five left, we can handle five.”

“Wait wait wait”, Renee says, frowning now, “you are aware we don’t want to kill them, right. We want to take them out for the police to arrest, not randomly murder them.”

“Fine”, Helena says with a shrug, even though she doesn’t look as if she quite gets why Renee wouldn’t want to kill their targets, “I shoot them in the leg then. They’re down, but alive. Problem solved.”

“Right”, Renee says, frowning a bit still, but apparently not wanting to waste anymore time arguing, “as long as you don’t kill everyone you see, we’re good.”

Helena nods, then readies her crossbow - before she strides towards the building and, without another word, kicks the door open, acting so fast that Dinah and Renee can only stare, not having expected that the slightest.

As it turns out, she has not exaggerated when she has said that she can take down two with her crossbow before the others will even realize what is happening; two guys fall, screaming as bolts are now protruding from their thighs, and the others are still scrambling to catch up when Helena moves further into the large room. 

“Shit”, Dinah snaps out of her stupor faster than Renee, and moves to follow Helena into the building; another guy has gone down by the time she makes it there, and leaving four standing to deal with, and Dinah is quick to kick the one nearest to her in the chest, sending him reeling back.

From the corner of her eye, she sees Helena slam her fist into the stomach of another guy, and when he doubles over in pain, she grabs his arm and finishes him off with a shoulder throw, as Dinah has seen her do during the amusement park fight; she also lets out the grunts Dinah has heard from her during that fight, she really is quite vocal when fighting, but Dinah can’t say she minds, as it means she can easily tell where Helena is and there’s no danger of the two being in each other’s way.

Renee moves to join the fight as well, a bit belatedly, brass knuckles gleaming on her fist; one of them falls to her punches, and Dinah takes down the last one standing with a few well placed kicks, the men groaning on the floor, their latest haul out in the open for anyone to see, cash and jewellery and phones, making Renee smirk as she figures that this time, arresting them won’t be a problem. 

Her smirk fades though as she turns towards Helena, the assassin looking back at her unimpressed, gaze darkening when Renee steps closer, getting into her face.

“What the fuck was that”, she claims, Helena raising her brows, “we’re a team, you can’t just storm in like that without warning!”

“And we’re a good team, too”, Dinah throws in, just to defuse the situation a bit, Helena looks annoyed now and Renee is still glaring at her, “just look how fast we took those guys down. Renee has a point though Huntress, we need to work together if this is supposed to work out for us.”

For another moment, Helena looks annoyed, then seems to reconsider as she goes back to a more neutral expression; she gives a brief nod, and Dinah hopes that Renee will accept it, not sure how Helena will react if the former cop scolds her again.

“Good”, Renee says instead, “let’s go then, I’ll call the cops on the way to pick these bozos up.”

She pulls her phone out already as she talks, and once the two others have nodded their agreement, they get moving, leaving the building and splitting up on the way to their vehicles; and as Renee starts the engine, Dinah watches Helena drive off on her bike, wondering where the woman is actually going, she’s still intrigued by her and wants to know more about her.

She’s glad their first small mission has worked out so well, and she hopes it will keep going like that for them in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for Helena to learn how to work with a team. XD


	4. Chapter 4

Dinah wakes to a somewhat frantic pounding on her door, and she groans - before she belatedly realizes that only Renee and Helena know where she lives, what with Sionis dead, and she feels alerted all at once, heart racing as she finds herself wondering if this is someone who has witnessed them fight the gang the previous night and now wants revenge.

_ Come on _ , she then scolds herself as she gets out of bed and takes a second to stretch, loosening up her legs just in case,  _ even if this is some asshole who wants to take you down, you know you can handle it. _

Briefly, she regrets that her door has no peephole, so she can’t look and see who’s in front of it; then, she takes in a deep breath and pulls the door open, raising her brows when it’s not someone who wants to attack her, but Harley Quinn and Cassandra, Harley just having raised her hand again to knock once more, lowering it again though when Dinah opens just in time. 

“Hey!” Harley greets, giving her one of her trademark wide smiles, Cassandra smiling as well and waving, “Canary! Long time no see!”

“Three days, you mean”, Dinah corrects her, not sure why the woman is here, but then, this does give her reason to hope that perhaps, she’ll get her car back, “and you better have a good reason to drop by here after how you stole my car!”

“Your car is parked in front of the building”, Harley says dismissively, as if she has borrowed the car and now is bringing it back, “can we come in?”

“You’re lucky Cass is with you”, Dinah grumbles as she steps aside to let them enter, Harley giving her another grin while the girl in question smirks as well, Dinah rolling her eyes at what Harley says next.

“I know”, she lets Dinah know as she flops down onto the couch, “that is why I brought her, so you won’t smack me around for borrowing your car.”

“Smart”, Dinah comments, earning yet another toothy grin, “and you  _ stole  _ my car. I better not find any damage on it either, because then I will kick your ass, no matter if Cass is there or not.”

“The car is fiiiine, jeez”, Harley says with a roll of her eyes, then grins again, “and you got it back, so lighten up! I bought a way better one.”

“Bought?” Dinah asks, raising her eyebrows, “or stole?”

“Bought”, Harley insists, Cassandra nodding along, which convinces Dinah that the former psychiatrist is telling the truth, “and thank you for asking, because that gives me an easy segue to why I’m here. Lookie.”

She pulls a folded up piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to Dinah; Dinah eyes the stains on it warily, it appears to be egg, then unfolds it, not sure what to expect, and frowning when there’s several lines of numbers on it, her confusion showing through her face when she looks at Harley again.

“You’re in touch with Huntress, no”, Harley half states, half asks, “give her that, she’ll know what to do.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like your phone number, so fine”, Dinah dryly says, and Cassandra giggles as Harley gasps dramatically, “I’ll give that to her.”

“As if you didn’t want to climb her like a tree”, Harley claims, and Dinah is quick to shake her head, frowning when Cassandra laughs again, then smirks at her, clearly, Harley is rubbing off on her, and she’s not sure what she thinks about that.

“Don’t even try to deny it”, the girl then says, unimpressed when Dinah’s frown is directed at her now, “even I could see that, and I’m thirteen.”

“No one’s climbing anyone”, Dinah denies it anyway, shaking her head for emphasis, “but, well, thanks, I guess? For that and for the car.”

“You’re welcome”, Harley beams, then changes the topic again by telling her what Cassandra and she are up to now; Dinah isn’t sure again what to think when she tells her that Cass is pretty much her apprentice now, but on the other hand, she figures Harley won’t get up to anything too crazy with the kid by her side, so that should be okay, and Cass certainly is better off with Harley than with the assholes who’d been her foster parents.

They talk for a little longer, and Dinah takes note of the fact that Cass does seem much more content and happier than when she’s last seen her; and when Harley declares that they have to head out again, Dinah goes down to the street with them, just to make sure her car really is there and truly isn’t damaged.

“See”, Harley declares, “it’s in perfect condition. You shouldn’t be so mistrustful!”

“I know you”, Dinah dryly shoots back, Harley pouting while Cass snickers again, “but, well, thanks for returning my car in one piece. ...are those egg stains on the seats?”

“We gotta go!” Harley practically shouts, grabbing Cassandra’s arm; Dinah just has time to pull in a breath to say something, then the two are off, with surprising speed, Dinah shaking her head after a moment, almost expecting a dust cloud to whirl up behind them, like in some sort of cartoon. 

She takes another look at her car, making a face at the stains and a mental note to have it properly cleaned once she has the money for that; then, she makes her way back to her apartment, grabs her phone and sends a quick text to Helena, figuring she might as well let her know that she has something for her right away.

_ Hey _ , she writes, fingers moving deftly over the screen,  _ Harley dropped by and left something here for you, you want to pick it up or I can hand it over when we go out again? _

The response comes quickly, her phone vibrating on the table not even a minute later; and somehow, Dinah isn’t surprised at the content, already having known that Helena would be as monosyllabic in text as she is when talking.

_ Helena Bertinelli: What is it? _

_ Dinah Lance: I don’t know for sure? Bunch of numbers on a piece of paper. With egg stains. _

_ Helena Bertinelli: I’ll drop by. In twenty minutes okay for you? _

_ Dinah Lance: Sure. See you in a bit. _

_ Helena Bertinelli: Yes. _

Dinah smirks at that last response, at how  _ Helena _ it is, then puts her phone back on the table; and exactly twenty minutes later, there’s a knock on her door, and of course it’s Helena, the taller woman giving her a short nod in response to her greeting.

“Here”, she says as Helena steps into the apartment and closes the door behind herself, holding the folded up paper out to her, “that’s what Harley dropped off.”

“Thank you”, Helena says, a bit stiffer than perhaps necessary for people who fight crime together; she takes the paper and unfolds it, and when she looks at it, all colour drains from her face, Dinah going wide-eyed in concern, she’s not been sure what to expect, but it certainly hasn’t been this drastic reaction.

“Helena?” she says after a few second have ticked by; Helena needs a few more to react, looking at her and swallowing, and Dinah only feels more worried, after a moment placing a gentle hand on her back and guiding her to sit down on the couch, glad when Helena does take a seat, honestly concerned that she might have just fainted otherwise.

“What is it”, she asks after another moment, not quite sure why someone would react like this to strings of numbers; Helena takes in a deep breath, then looks at her again, Dinah’s mouth literally falling open at the response.

“It’s the account information”, Helena tells her, having to swallow again before she can go on, “from the diamond. This gives me access to my family’s money. I… Harley’s just made me a fucking millionaire.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ka-ching $$$ XD


	5. Chapter 5

Helena has taken off fairly quickly again after having recovered from the shock of being rich now, and Dinah has found herself wondering if she’ll actually show up again; Renee has sent a message to both Helena and her, asking them to meet her at a bar downtown later that day, and Helena has responded with a short “okay”, but Dinah figures she might still change her mind, once she’ll realize she is actually filthy fucking rich now and can just fuck off to a beach somewhere for an eternal holiday.

So, she feels a bit nervous when she arrives at the bar a few minutes early; Renee is already there, sitting in one of the booths at the back with a woman Dinah doesn’t know, waving at her when she spots her, the woman giving her a curious look as she greets her as well, scooting aside a bit so Dinah can sit down next to her.

“Dinah, this is Ellen”, Renee introduces, Dinah giving the woman a polite smile in response, “Ellen, Dinah Lance. Ellen’s gonna help us with finding the bad guys, the bigger fish, so to say. I’ll tell you more once Bertinelli is here.”

Dinah just nods, simultaneously deciding to not tell Renee about what has happened and the concerns she has now; there’s still a few minutes left until the actual time Renee has given for the meeting arrives, and so far, Helena always has been right on time, so there is no reason to fear yet that she won’t show.

Still she keeps glancing towards the entrance, until Renee notices and raises her brows; before she can ask though, the door opens and Helena steps inside, glancing around for a moment before she spots them and moves to their booth, sitting down next to Renee, nodding at Ellen when Renee introduces them.

“Ellen’s the DA”, she then adds, making the woman nod, and simultaneously explaining how they know each other, “and she’s gonna hook us up with the cases where the bad guys got away. Taking on random gangs will make the city a bit safer, but it won’t do much in the long run, we need to get at the big guys in the background.”

Helena nods at that, and Dinah does the same, even though she finds herself wondering if it really will be as easy as Renee makes it sound; Ellen clears her throat, making them look at her, Dinah immediately taking note of how Renee’s gaze softens when it falls on the DA, and she quickly guesses that there’s more between them then the simple work relationship of a detective and a DA.

She files that observation away for later, knowing there are other, more important topics now; and it’s good she is focusing, because Ellen is telling them how she has tried to do things by the book, but that just doesn’t work in Gotham, there is too much corruption, and cops and judges who are willing to be bribed, so she has agreed to help Renee with her “vigilante business”, as the DA calls it, the only condition she has being that she won’t ever be connected to it by them.

“You mess up and get arrested, I don’t know about any of this”, she states, making Renee and Dinah nod while Helena shrugs, the assassin clearly not caring one way or another, “and I won’t be able to help you. What you want to do is good and noble, but not exactly legal.”

“We’re aware of that”, Renee tells her, Dinah nodding again, and this time, Helena nods as well; Ellen sighs, making Dinah wonder if she truly thinks this is a good thing to do, but she does reach into the bag sitting beside her and pulls out a wad of paper, dropping it on the table in front of her so they can all look at it, Dinah quickly realizing it’s a copy of a police file.

“Mike Rollins”, she says, nodding at the mugshot of the man in question, Dinah raising her brows at the aggressive stare of the man, he looks as if he’s about to jump the one taking the picture, “leader of one of the bigger gangs in the harbour district. They’ve been terrorizing store owners there, demanding regular payment or else.”

“Well, we’re gonna put an end to that”, Renee says, quickly taking the file and putting it in her own bag before anyone else might see it, “thanks for the help.”

“Remember”, Ellen says in response, coming to her feet, “you didn’t get that from me. But let me know how it went.”

Renee lets out a vaguely agreeing noise, then tells Ellen she’ll call her; and after a brief nod of her own, the woman heads out, Dinah once more taking note of how Renee looks after her as she leaves.

Helena clears her throat, distracting her from her observations; both Renee and Dinah look at the assassin, neither of them used to Helena being the one to say something first, or to say much at all, and Dinah can tell the assassin feels weird when they both focus on her like that.

“Here”, she gruffly says, reaching into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulling out two white envelopes; she pushes one across the table to Renee and the other towards Dinah, the former cop and the singer exchanging confused looks before they each grab their envelope and open it to peer inside.

“Holy shit”, Renee lets out, while Dinah just goes wide-eyed; certain that she’s misread, she pulls the check out of the envelope for a closer look, but she hasn’t, it really is twenty-five thousand dollars, Renee letting out a low whistle as she pulls hers out as well.

“Helena, what the fuck”, Dinah manages, pushing the check back into the envelope and shaking her head, “you can’t just go around giving us money like that.”

“I can”, Helena tells her, skillfully missing the point, but then, this shouldn’t surprise her, Dinah thinks, she’s amazing at fighting, but one doesn’t need a PhD like Harley has to realize her social skills are not nearly as developed as her fighting skill, “I just did.”

“Well yeah”, Dinah has to concede, that is technically true, “but… we can’t take this.”

“Speak for yourself”, Renee immediately says, and shrugs at the  _ look _ Dinah shoots her for that, “I just quit my job, and your boss got blown to bits. We both have no income, but I have rent to pay and to eat, and I imagine so do you.”

“Yeah”, Helena latches on to that line of reasoning, Dinah making a face at the former cop and the assassin teaming up like that, “see it as… a salary, of sorts. For what we do.”

“Just tell me”, Renee seems to realize that usually, assassins don’t walk around with pockets full of cash, “where’d you get that kind of money?”

“Oh”, Helena realizes that Renee has no idea about the afternoon’s events, “um, Harley dropped the account information off at Dinah. From the diamond?”

Renee lets out a whistle again, she has no clue how much exactly is in those accounts, but she knows it has been most of the Bertinelli fortune when the massacre has happened fifteen years ago, and realizes at once that what Helena is offering won’t even make a dent in those accounts, she could give that amount to both of them a hundred times over and would still have more than enough to live a comfortable life.

“Right”, she thus says, and pockets the envelope; and after a second, Dinah does as well, she feels bad taking money from Helena like this, but Renee has made a point, and she won’t be much good at fighting crime if she’s homeless.

_ And it’s not like you can get a day job when you go out to fight bad guys at night _ , she tells herself, but it still feels weird; Helena looks relieved at both of them having taken the money though, and it’s not like they have asked her for it, so she figures that this one time, it’s okay.

Renee excuses herself to get another drink, and Dinah takes the chance given by that as it’s just Helena and her now; she makes sure to sound not like she’s making any sort of accusation, but Helena’s face still darkens at what the singer tells her.

“Don’t make this a thing, alright”, Dinah says, “Renee has a point, but… we shouldn’t rely on your money.”

Helena just shrugs in response, but even though she doesn’t know her that well, Dinah can tell there is something she’s not saying, she might want to, but perhaps can’t find the words or the courage to say them; she’s not sure there is anything she can say to help Helena with this, so she reaches over the table instead and places her hand on Helena’s bare forearm, disconcerted at how tense the woman is, it feels as if her palm is resting on a slab of rock.

“Helena?” she says, glad when at least, the taller woman looks at her again; a few more seconds tick by, then Helena sighs, and shrugs again, gaze dropping back to the table as she responds.

“I don’t even want that money”, she quietly says, and Dinah’s heart clenches up, “too many people died for that fucking money. So I can at least use it to make this city better.”

There is nothing Dinah can respond to that, so she just leaves her hand where it is, in an attempt to give Helena some comfort; she only pulls back when Renee returns, and doesn’t mention the money again, and neither does Renee, bringing the talk back to their newest target instead, and Dinah can easily tell that Helena is grateful for the change of topic.

It still feels strange to take that money, Dinah reflects, feeling the envelope in her pocket as if it weighs a ton, but after what Helena has said, she doesn’t have the heart to give it back, she has seen the brief pain in the other woman’s eyes and the old sadness, and she never wants to see any of that again.

She wonders if there is anything she can do to make sure of that, and decides then and there that, once she has an answer to that question, she’ll make sure to make use of it, if only so Helena won’t look so hurt and sad again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonding time AND a proper target x)


	6. Chapter 6

It’s fascinating, Dinah thinks to herself, how different Helena acts the second they are on a mission, all awkwardness is gone and she is focused and confident, it’s almost as if she’s a different person, as if she is taken over by the Huntress version of herself, a skilled fighter who knows she is good at what she does, and a far cry from awkward, socially unskilled Helena Bertinelli.

It feels almost absurd, Dinah ponders as they wait for Renee outside the bodega which often gets hit by Rollins and his gang, the former cop speaking to the owner inside, to call her Helena when she is like this, she is Huntress now, and Dinah figures that is a good thing, it won’t do to have the bad guys of Gotham know Helena’s real name, even if it’s just her first name.

“You should buy a better lock”, Helena says out of nowhere, tearing Dinah out of her thoughts, and she looks at her, blinking, wondering if she has been so zoned out she has missed something Helena has said, but she’s fairly certain she hasn’t, it seems more like Helena has said this out of nowhere.

“What?” Dinah still says, just to be on the safe side, “I’m sorry, did I miss something?”

“For your door”, Helena clarifies, and Dinah blinks again, “at your apartment? It’s cheap. Anyone could break in there.”

“Okay”, Dinah says, raising her eyebrows, “well, I live in one of the not so fancy parts of town, as you probably noticed, so people will assume there’s not much to steal at my place. Which would be true. So… Thank you for your concern, but I guess my lock is fine?”   


Helena just shrugs, and suddenly Dinah feels as if she has said the wrong thing, this is the first time Helena has been the one to speak up, she realizes, and she has pretty much dismissed her, even though the assassin’s words have shown that she thinks of her safety, something someone who doesn’t give a damn about her wouldn’t bother to do.

“Well”, she thus says, making Helena look at her again, “luckily, thanks to the generosity of a friend, I got a bunch of money in my account now, so I guess I can invest in a better lock. Thanks for the tip.”

She’s touched and a bit amused to see that Helena’s cheeks redden visibly when Dinah calls her a friend, but she doesn’t comment on it, and neither does Helena herself; the taller woman just gives a short nod, then Renee leaves the bodega, and she’s frowning, the reason for the look on her face quickly explained when she joins them again and speaks up.

“That guy Rollins has balls, I give him that”, she starts, Dinah raising her brows as this is a weird way to start, but then, it fits the moments of 80s movie cop speak Renee sometimes has, “he’s not even going to collect the money anymore, he has the owners come to him. One of them refused and mysteriously, his store burned down a day later.”

“I don’t see how that is mysterious”, Helena comments, and Renee looks offended for a moment, clearly thinking the assassin is making fun of her; Dinah catches on quickly though, and pats her arm, the offended look vanishing from Renee’s face at what the singer says.

“That was sarcasm, she didn’t mean it literally”, Dinah points out, and Helena lets out an “oh”, looking genuinely surprised; for a moment, Renee still feels as if they’re pulling her leg, then shrugs it off, if she’s expected anyone to not understand sarcasm, it’s Helena, so it’s not really surprising.

“Anyway”, she says, “assassins who don’t get sarcasm aside, bodega guy told me where they have to drop off the cash once a month. And he knows another store owner has to deliver tonight, so Rollins and his goons will be there.”

“Well, then we know where to go”, Dinah says with a little smirk, Renee and Helena both nodding, “shall we then? We better not waste any time.”

“Someone’s eager to kick some ass”, Renee comments, with a smile of her own; Dinah shrugs, then briefly glances at Helena, making sure to sound light when she replies to make sure Helena doesn’t take this the wrong way

“Turns out being a vigilante pays well”, she says, glad when the assassin smiles a bit, it’s not often that Helena does so, and it makes Dinah feel oddly proud that she has managed to make her do so, “so I gotta do a decent job, wouldn’t want to get fired.”

This time, Helena apparently gets that this is not fully serious, as she smiles a little again; Renee smirks as well and nods, then they all get into her car, Helena’s not happy she’s had to leave her bike behind at their meeting point at Renee’s place, but it is smarter for the three of them to go together, just in case something goes wrong and they need to make a quick getaway.

It’s not far to where Rollins and his goons are hanging out when they are waiting for payments to be brought to them, Dinah not liking the fact that it’s a seedy bar, and wondering if the other patrons might get in on the fight, even if they are not involved in Rollins’ gang; then, she tells herself not to worry, the three of them can handle it even if this should happen, Helena alone probably could take on ten guys with no problem and not even be sweating by the time she’s taken them all down.

One quick glance at Helena tells her that the woman is in full Huntress mode again, her eyes like steel as she follows Renee to the door; she doesn’t have her crossbow in hand, not yet, but Dinah has seen how fast she can grab it, hoping that using it won’t be necessary as Renee enters the bar and Helena and she follow.

It’s easy to recognize Rollins, thanks to the mugshot Ellen has provided them with; he’s sitting at one of the tables with his cronies, laughing about something, still looking amused when the three women reach his table, the way he eyes them making Dinah’s skin crawl.

“Who’re you”, he then drawls, completely unaware that he’ll have his ass kicked in a few moments, “is Meyer too scared to come himself now? He send you here?”

“Sort of”, Renee says with a slight smile - before she pulls her hand out of her pocket, Rollins’ eyes going wide when he sees the brass knuckles she is wearing, but before he can do more than that, she punches the guy nearest to her straight in the face, and his teeth go flying from his mouth, and Dinah quickly kicks another one just as he starts to rise, slamming him back into the seat hard enough that he falls over backwards with it.

From the corner of her eye, she sees Helena punch another guy as he moves in from another table, confirming her suspicion that the other patrons might get into the fight as well; and then, she has no more time to look what Helena and Renee are doing, as the fight breaks out in earnest, and she has to focus on not getting hurt and on staying alive.

She kicks one guy in the chest and sends him down, ducks the punch of another and swipes his legs out from underneath him with a low kick; one guy rushes at her like an angry bull, but she stidesteps his clumsy charge and kicks him in the back, and he stumbles, and Helena is right where he almost regains his footing, slamming her forearm into his face and taking him down fully.

Movement from the corner of her eye prompts Dinah to turn again, part of her registering with cold detachment that most of their attackers have gone down at this point; the one coming at her now is Rollins himself, his teeth bared in an angry grimace, but while he is bulky, he doesn’t have much fighting skill, she can easily duck his punch, move beneath his arm and past him, and kicks him in the back, sending him crashing to the ground face first.

She dismisses him for now as another guy is coming for her, one of the last ones standing; and just as she counters his attack with a fierce kick to his belly, a crossbow bolt shoots past her and she hears a gurgle behind her, turning just in time to see Rollins go down with the bolt protruding from his throat, Renee taking down their last opponent a second later, fire in her eyes when she sees their main target dying on the dirty floor.

“Huntress!” she snaps, and Dinah winces at her tone, “what the fuck! I told you, no killing!”

She stomps over to where Helena is just lowering her crossbow, looking unimpressed at the former cop’s ire; and Dinah, following a sudden instinct, makes her way to where Rollins is lying still by now, using one foot to turn him onto his back, her blood running cold when she sees the gun fall out of his limp hand.

“...our main target, and you fucking murdered him!” Renee is snapping at Helena, who still looks unimpressed; Dinah clears her throat, but finds herself ignored, so she snaps “Renee!”, and that gets her the other woman’s attention, even though it means that she is the one getting glared at now.

“He had a gun”, Dinah tells her, and that gives the former cop pause; she looks at Helena again, the anger now gone from her features, and Dinah wills her to apologize, but if she is planning to, it takes her too long to find the words, as Helena is the one to speak up first.

“That he did”, she dryly says, “and he was aiming for you. You’re welcome.”

And with that, she turns and walks off without another word; Dinah looks at Renee, but the former cop makes no move to follow the assassin, and after a few moments have ticked by, Dinah huffs at her and then hurries to follow Helena, suddenly just knowing that, if she doesn’t find her now and then finds the right words, she might just leave and not come back, and she’s really not willing to let that happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for Helena's sharp, gun-spotting eyes. XD


	7. Chapter 7

Thankfully, Dinah is quick to realize, Helena hasn’t made it far, only having walked a few steps from the bar, and she figures it’s lucky the assassin hasn’t come here on her own bike, but has ridden in Renee’s car with them, suspecting Helena would be gone by now if her bike had been waiting at the building.

“Helena!” she calls out, glad when the taller woman stops and turns to look at her; Dinah breaks into a light jog to reach her faster, stopping in front of her, needing a moment to catch her breath, she hasn’t run fast or far, but the adrenaline from the fight is wearing off, and for a moment, she’s deeply jealous as once again, Helena’s not out of breath the slightest, looking as if she’s just been strolling down the beach instead of having been in a fight against a whole group of people.

“Hey”, Dinah adds, just to win some time, not sure what to say to make this better, but knowing she has to say  _ something _ , “I… Look, I know Renee just was unnecessarily harsh, but… don’t leave. Please.”

Helena doesn’t say anything, but doesn’t make a move to walk off again either, and Dinah figures that is a good thing; she smiles at her, and takes a step closer, placing one hand on her arm with the intention to connect them and to give her comfort, only to pause when she feels sticky wetness beneath her fingers.

“Shit”, she lets out as she realizes what that is, and that it’s not sweat, “Helena! You’re hurt!”

“I’m fine”, Helena tells her at once, and that doesn’t really surprise her, she’s figured the woman isn’t the sort of person who’d openly show pain; she gives her a hard look, noting that she’s probably not  _ fine _ if blood is running down her arm like that, and takes a closer look, grimacing as she sees the injury, on the back of Helena’s upper arm, a deep, torn up looking gash a few inches above her elbow.

“Yeah, that’s not  _ fine _ ”, Dinah tells her, Helena looking unimpressed, but thankfully not protesting either when the singer goes on, “that needs stitches. You’re coming home with me, I’ll take care of that.”

For a moment, Helena looks like she wants to protest, but then, she gives a short nod, probably because she won’t be able to properly reach that injury to stitch it up herself, Dinah thinks to herself; she looks like the person who’d stitch her own wounds, and Dinah wonders if she can just ask her that, but before she can come to a decision about that, Renee steps out of the bar and moves to join them, looking a bit guilty now as her gaze focuses on Helena.

“I’m sorry”, she says, Helena raising her brows, clearly not having expected that, “and thank you. For not letting me get shot.”

“...you’re welcome”, Helena says after a moment, in a less dry tone now, accepting the apology; Renee looks relieved, and asks if they should get moving them, Dinah nodding at once, Helena’s wound is still bleeding a bit and she wants to take care of that as fast as possible.

Renee takes note of the injury as well, and wordlessly pulls a clean tissue from her pocket, holding it out to the taller woman; Helena is quick to take it and presses it to the wound, and if that hurts her, she’s good at hiding it, Dinah thinks to herself as they walk to the former cop’s car together.

“That looks like it needs to be stitched up”, Renee comments, and Dinah is quick to tell her she’ll take care of that; Renee looks momentarily surprised in response, then just nods without questioning it, and they all get into the car, Helena in the backseat, letting out a vaguely agreeing grunt when Renee calls her to not bleed on everything back there.

Renee drops them off at Dinah’s building, and even though the tissue is soaked at this point, Helena is still holding it to her arm, and keeps it there as she walks up the stairs with Dinah; she only removes it when they are inside the apartment and Dinah has directed her to the bathroom, figuring it will be easiest to wash off any blood there, the tiles much easier to clean than the carpet or her couch.

“You might want to sit down for that”, she advises as Helena drops the bloodied tissue into the little trash can, then uses her mirror to get a look at the wound, “wait, I’ll get you a chair.”

She hurries to the kitchen and grabs one of the chairs there, quickly carrying it to the bathroom; Helena sits down on it sideways, so the backrest won’t be in the way, Dinah finding her first aid kit in the cupboard beneath the washbasin, now glad that she has invested in a suture kit as well, Helena wordlessly watching how she unpacks a sterile piece of cotton and drenches it in disinfectant.

“You’ve done this before”, the assassin says as she watches Dinah prepare everything; the singer just nods, not wanting to explain when and for whom she has done this, and to her relief, Helena just accepts her silence and doesn’t ask any questions. 

“Fair warning”, she says as she carefully cleans the wound, impressed by how Helena just sits there, nothing about her posture or her face showing that she actually has an open wound which is being disinfected right this moment, “it’s been a while since I’ve done this, I can’t promise pretty even stitches.”

“That’s fine”, Helena tells her, and again Dinah is not surprised; she makes sure that the wound is thoroughly cleaned before she tosses the bloodied gauze into the trash, taking in a deep breath afterwards as she readies needle and thread.

“How did that even happen”, she asks, in an attempt to distract Helena from the pain, even though the assassin doesn’t actually look as if this hurts her in any way, not even when Dinah starts her work with the needle, “that doesn’t look like a knife wound, unless it was a really messed up blade.”

“Glass”, Helena replies, and Dinah briefly pauses to raise her eyebrows at her, prompting her to elaborate, “like, a beer glass? Guy smashed it on my arm.”

“Guess you’re lucky he didn’t hit you in the head”, Dinah mumbles, Helena letting out her vaguely agreeing grunt again; then, they both fall silent as Dinah is focused on her work, glad that she apparently hasn’t forgotten how to do it, she’s a bit slower than she has been the last time she has done this, but the stitches do turn out more even than she’s dared to hope, and look like they will hold by the time she gets done.

“Almost done”, she lets Helena know, earning another brief nod; she covers the wound up with a bandage, making sure it sits correctly before she nods in satisfaction and goes to wash her hands, Helena getting up from the chair behind her, Dinah watching through the mirror how she flexes in an attempt to test the stitches, and wow, the singer finds herself thinking, those muscles really  _ are  _ impressive, quite the sight behold.

“Feels okay?” she asks, voice a bit rougher perhaps than normal, but if Helena notices, she doesn’t let it show; she nods again, then clears her throat, finding some spot on the wall next to Dinah very interesting when she replies.

“Good job”, she tells the singer, and Dinah figures this is high praise, coming from someone who certainly has experience with doing this, “um… thank you.”

“You’re welcome”, Dinah says, then nods towards the living room, “drink now? I think we’ve both earned that tonight.”

Helena smiles a bit at that, and nods, and as they move to have that drink together, Dinah feels like they have taken an important step in their friendship, and even though she would have preferred Helena to not get hurt, she’s glad things have worked out that way and that the assassin is still part of their team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory patching up scene: check


	8. Chapter 8

The three of them meet again in the next afternoon, at Dinah’s place this time; Renee brings beer again, and Dinah has bought some snacks, and both Renee and Dinah are surprised when Helena shows up with a bottle of wine, shrugging at the way they both raise their brows at it.

“You brought things”, she declares, in her usual dry tone which makes Dinah smile a bit at this point, “so I brought something, too. Italian wine.”

“Oh wow”, Renee lets out as she takes a closer look at the bottle, “that’s some expensive shit, thanks Cro-- Helena.”

“You’re welcome”, Helena tells her, then makes boht Dinah and Renee gape at her by using one of her knives to get the cork out of the bottle; neither of them makes any comment though, Dinah just moving to get some glasses while Helena and Renee sit down in her living room. 

“So”, Renee says once Dinah has joined them again and Helena starts pouring the wine, “Rollins is dead, which was not part of the plan, but at least that means he won’t terrorize people anymore, and his cronies are in jail now. Ellen says thank you, good job ladies.”

She reaches for her glass of wine, only to pull back when Helena sharply says “no!”; realizing that her tone might have been a bit harsh, the assassin clears her throat, looking a bit sheepish, but not backing down as she explains.

“You have to let it breathe”, she tells the former cop, who blinks in response, “or it won’t taste right.”

“Seriously?” Renee says, eying her as if she has grown a second head, “you’re a wine connoisseur?”

“She’s Italian”, Dinah points out before Helena can say something, and Renee looks somewhat amazed when this earns her a smile from the assassin, “of course she’d know about that. Just listen to her.”

“Fine”, Renee says with a roll of her eyes, leaning back in her seat as if to physically distance herself from the glass, “anyway, Ellen says thank you, and we got rid of one of the bigger gangs, so go us. She promised me another lead for tomorrow, some drug dealer shit.”

“Good”, Helena says, clearly liking the idea of taking down a bunch of drug dealers, “you got any info so far?”

“Sort of”, Renee lets them know, and Dinah figures that makes sense, as this meeting would have been quite useless otherwise, “I’ve heard of that case when I was still on the force. I don’t know who’s behind it, but it is a lab which produces crystal meth, apparently cleaner and more addictive than any of the other one can get on the street.”

“Just more reason to take them down”, Helena comments, Dinah a bit surprised about how talkative she suddenly is, compared to their previous meetings, but then she can’t say she minds, she does have quite the pleasant voice when she’s not yelling angrily, “we meet here again tomorrow? Or near the lab? Ellen knows where it is?”

“Not yet”, Renee tells her, and she frowns, “she should know by tomorrow, or at least have a vague idea where we can find. I’ll let you know once I know, and we can meet near there.”

Helena nods her agreement to that, and so does Dinah; Renee gives them what little else she has on information about their new target, it’s not much, the guy is truly good at covering his tracks, but she’s confident they will be able to take them down, and so is Dinah, knowing they all are skilled, and once they know where they have to go, she figures they’ll be able to handle whatever the guy is going to throw at them.

Once she has told them everything she knows, Renee finishes her drink and excuses herself, heading out; Dinah halfway expects Helena to get moving as well the moment Renee rises from her seat, but the assassin stays where she is, toying with her glass and only giving a tense nod when Renee tells them she’ll see them tomorrow, then. 

Dinah gets up from her seat to lock the door behind the former cop, figuring Helena, for whatever reason, isn’t quite ready to leave yet; and when she turns to face the taller woman, she catches Helena quickly looking away, apparently, she has been looking at her back and now feels caught staring, her cheeks reddening a bit.

Deciding not to comment on this, Dinah moves to sit down next to her, and doesn’t say anything; she doesn’t know the woman well, but she somehow can sense that Helena is working towards saying something, and doesn’t want to say anything too soon, worried this might prompt her to clam up, giving her time instead, aware of how Helena glances at her from the corner of her eye a few times.

“Did you think I would leave?” Helena does break the silence at last, and Dinah blinks at her, she’s not sure what she has expected, but it hasn’t been this; she recovers quickly though, shaking her head when Helena looks at her, taking a sip of her wine before she gives the assassin a small smile.

“I did not”, she then says out loud, just to make sure she gets her point across, Helena looking relieved in response, and Dinah wonders what it means that the other woman lets her see her emotions so clearly, compared to how stoic she usually looks, “why are you asking?”

“I think Renee thought I would”, Helena tells her, toying with her glass again, and Dinah finds it oddly adorable how nervous she seems now, compared to the stone cold badass she is when they fight bad guys, “that’s why she wanted that meeting today, she could have told us all of that tomorrow. I think she wanted to see if I’d be here, after… yesterday.”

“Maybe”, Dinah concedes, then sighs as she realizes that is not quite true, and corrects herself, “okay, yeah, she might have thought that you’d skip town or something, after how she’s yelled at you. Especially when she’s realized she’s yelled for no good reason. So yeah, she might have thought that, and wanted today’s meeting to see if you’d show, but I didn’t think you’d be gone.”

“Okay”, Helena says, and that is not much of an answer, but Dinah isn’t surprised or offended, she knows Helena isn’t a woman of many words - and so, it does surprise her when the taller woman not only speaks up again after a few seconds, but looks at her, too, looks her in the eye this time, something she has realized by now Helena normally has trouble with.

“Thank you”, the assassin says, so solemnly that it makes Dinah’s heart clench oddly, “it… I appreciate your trust.”

“I do trust you”, Dinah reassures her, just to make it clear, “I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I do.”

Helena just gives a short nod, not telling her that she trusts her as well, but Dinah doesn’t need to hear it; and she knows not to take it personal when Helena drains her wine in a few big gulps, probably going against the Italian within her, and comes to her feet, telling her she better get going, as well.

“You do that”, she says with another small smile, glad when Helena smiles back at her after a second, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Helena nods, and heads out, Dinah locking the door behind her, and as she does so, she remembers what Helena has told her about getting a better lock; and then and there, she decides that she will do so, she knows Helena has made a good point when she has pointed that out and it will be another way to show her that she does trust her.

Helena hasn’t told her she trusts her, but Dinah simply  _ knows _ anyway that she does, as much as someone like Helena can trust anyone, and she’s determined to show her now that this trust isn’t misplaced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw. Trust has been built :D


	9. Chapter 9

“Are we sure this is the right place?” Dinah asks in the next evening, looking around sceptically as Renee parks the car; the former cop reassures her it is, and she hears Helena let out a vaguely agreeing noise from the backseat, even though the suburban area they are at now seems very unlikely to serve as the hideout for a meth lab.

“It makes sense”, Helena comments, surprising both Dinah and Renee as they both know at this point that normally, she is not one to speak up on her own much, without being asked something first, “a warehouse at the harbour or something would be suspicious, but an area like that… If they keep it to the basement, no one will suspect a thing.”

This appears like sound reasoning to Dinah, and she nods, Renee doing the same; then, the former cop grimaces as she doesn’t know which house exactly is the one the meth lab is at, Helena surprising her again by telling her to drive down the road slowly, so she can take a look at the houses.

“That one”, she says after Renee has slowly rolled past a few of the houses, pointing to one of them; Dinah can’t quite tell how that one is different from the others, but Helena is quick to explain, sounding confident and sure of herself, so unlike the other times she has talked to them outside of a fight.

“All the others show they are being lived in”, she explains, “toys on the lawn, seats on the porch, that sort of stuff. That one is too clean.”

“Let’s hope it’s not the house of a neat freak”, Renee mumbles, but now that Helena has pointed it out, both Dinah and she see it too, the house looks like it’s used to advertisement shots, and not if someone actually lives there, “but guess we’ll find out.”

She keeps driving so as to not arouse suspicion of people possibly within the suspicious house, parking a safe distance away; Helena once again has her crossbow hanging down her back, where she can reach it easily and quickly, and Renee eyes it warily as they get out of the car, but doesn’t say anything, something Dinah is quite glad about.

Helena takes the lead this time, too, Dinah and Renee following her, the singer feeling a bit nervous - if there truly is a meth lab in this house, the ones running it won’t expect them, but she figures they will be armed, and hopes the three of them will surprise the baddies enough to not let them get at said weapons, the last thing they need is that one of them gets shot.

“Basement windows are covered from the inside”, Helena comments, keeping her voice low so no one inside the house will hear her, “another good sign. Come on.”

Renee raises her brows when the assassin makes her way to the front door, perhaps, she thinks to herself, this is not the best way to enter; a moment later, she’s impressed though as Helena pulls a hairpin from her pocket and starts working on the lock, an audible click coming up seconds later, the door opening soundlessly.

“Of course she knows how to pick locks”, Renee mutters under her breath, Dinah smiling a bit in response, pleasantly surprised when Helena glances back at them and gives them a little smirk of her own; then, she grows serious again as she readies her crossbow, and Renee doesn’t admonish her this time, figuring that, after their last mission, Helena won’t shoot to kill unless she has to.

It doesn’t take the assassin long to locate the stairs leading down to the basement, Dinah straining her ears as she tries to figure out if anyone is nearby; she can hear voices now as they silently move down the stairs, but it’s hard to tell how many people there are, perhaps Helena has already managed to count them, Dinah realizes, but she herself has no idea.

Helena is still in the lead, and so, she is the first to see the man when he steps around the corner up ahead, apparently planning to go upstairs for one reason or another; his eyes widen as he sees them, but before he can do more than that, Helena has shot forward and slams her fist into his stomach, his breath leaving him in a soundless huff, and Dinah is impressed when Helena grabs him and takes him in a firm chokehold, keeping him in that grip until his body goes limp.

“Don’t worry”, she then mutters, before Renee can say something, “he’s out cold. Not dead.”

“Good job”, Renee whispers, and this earns her another smirk; then, Helena moves on, keeping close to the wall as the voices grow louder, Dinah doing the same and trying to move as quietly as the assassin, she knows she’s not quite as good at it as Helena is, but both Renee and she seem to be doing well enough, as there are no sudden pauses in the men talking and no cries of alarm. 

At least, she tells herself, it’s easy to tell where the men are, as light is only coming from one of the rooms ahead; she has a moment to wonder if they will surprise an innocent meeting of neighbourhood dads now, if the man Helena has taken out has been an innocent victim, then the smell hits her, sharp and chemical, and she knows at once this is the right place.

From how Renee goes tense, the former cop can tell, too, and Dinah fights the urge to pull in a deep breath as she focuses; Helena readies her crossbow, eyes steely now, in full Huntress mode, and when she glances back at the other two and raises her eyebrows questioningly, Renee gives a short nod, clearly glad that Helena this time sort of has asked before just storming in.

The taller woman raises her crossbow in response, soundlessly moving to the one room which is lit up; and then, she steps into the doorframe, aims and fires in one fluid movement, Dinah is impressed how fast she takes in the room and the position of the men within, one of them going down screaming in pain before the others even have a chance to realize what is happening. 

She needs a few more moments to see where the remaining guys are and how many there are, and in the time this takes her, they recover, as well; and as the fight breaks out, Dinah still has time to realize that this truly is the right place, there’s bottles and glass jars everywhere, liquid bubbling here and there, even someone who knows nothing about meth labs can figure out that nothing harmless is being made here.

She ducks one clumsy punch and hears glass shatter, and retaliates with a kick of her own; there’s quite the chaos for a while as the three of them fight the gang, she hears Helena grunt a few feet behind her, realizing she has moved farther into the room during the fight, but she doesn’t let this stop her, she figures she’ll be fine once the guys have been taken down.

More glass shatters somewhere behind her, and suddenly, thick white smoke starts to fill the room, so thick she barely can see anything anymore; it makes her eyes water and hurts her throat, and suddenly, Dinah isn’t so sure anymore she’ll be fine.

One of the guys comes charging out of the smoke, a knife glinting in his hand, but he is just as affected by the smoke as Dinah is, and she can easily sidestep his attack and kicks him the back when he stumbles past her; she tries to hold her breath and to find the exit, but the smoke makes it impossible to see anything, and she just  _ has  _ to breathe again after a while, coughing harshly at once.

A tall figure appears next to her, and she tries to bring her fists up, even though the world is starting to blur in front of her eyes; she wonders if she’ll be able to actually fight or if she’ll end up taking a hit and going down, then a firm hand grabs her arm and steadies her, and she realizes it’s not one of the guys next to her.

“It’s me”, Helena still says, just to be on the side, perhaps, she worries Dinah might Canary Cry her otherwise, “come on.”

And with that, she moves and easily picks Dinah up on her arms; the singer wants to protest for a moment, then realizes how badly the smoke is affecting her and says nothing, just lets it happen that Helena swiftly carries her out of the room. 

She takes her all the way to the stairs and carefully lowers her onto the ground there, then hurries off again; and while Dinah still struggles to recover, Helena comes back, now with Renee on her arms, having thought of pulling her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose, a flimsy protection, but probably better than nothing at all.

Realizing Helena can’t carry them both at once, Dinah struggles to her feet, she hears a window break and realizes they’ll have to get away fast now, if the smoke is wafting out of the house, someone will alarm the authorities soon; she finds it difficult to stay upright, and is gasping for breath by the time they have made it upstairs, nodding though when Helena asks her if she is okay.

Renee mumbles something about being able to walk, but Helena simply ignores her, quickly carrying her out of the house and to where she has parked the car, Dinah following as fast as she can; Helena loads Renee into the backseat and gets into the driver’s seat, leaving the passenger seat for Dinah, and for the moment, the singer is just glad she doesn’t need to do anything but sit there and focus on getting her breath back while Helena steps down on the gas pedal.

She drives a bit recklessly, perhaps, but Dinah can hear sirens in the distance now, and knows they have to get away fast; she also knows the guys will be arrested on the spot though, with the perfect evidence right there, and tells herself that despite the danger and the nasty smoke, it has been worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helena carrying Dinah around: check  
> XD


	10. Chapter 10

Once they have put a safe distance between the meth house and themselves, Helena parks the car and orders them both to get out for some fresh air, claiming it will help; Dinah doubts the air in Gotham is every truly fresh, but it does help to clear her mind, even though she still feels a bit queasy.

“Drop me off at Ellen’s”, Renee mutters, leaning against the car and rubbing her temples, and Dinah can’t blame her for having a headache, her own head feels fuzzy too, “we shouldn’t sleep alone tonight, after breathing in that drug shit.”

“Agreed”, Helena says at once, “but first, a few more minutes out here. Just breathe deeply. Throw up if you have to.”

Dinah makes a face at that, she really doesn’t want to throw up, but at least, she doesn’t feel like she has to; Renee shakes her head as well, leaning against the car and taking in a few deep breaths, having regained a bit of colour by the time Helena declares they can get going again.

Renee gives her Ellen’s address, and Helena drives her there; the former cop lets her know she’ll pick her car up in the next day, and the assassin nods, looking at Dinah afterwards, frowning when the singer tells her to take her home.

“But you shouldn’t be alone, like Renee said”, she points out, and Dinah has to hold back a groan, “will you call someone to be with you?”

“No”, Dinah mumbles, she doesn’t want to say out loud she has no one to call, but while Helena might not be very socially skilled, she apparently picks up on at least some of this, as she doesn’t ask, just looks back at her for a few moments before she speaks up again, and when she does, Dinah can only blink in surprise.

“I’ll stay with you”, Helena declares, in a tone which allows no arguing; Dinah blinks again, then clears her throat, managing to sound quite even when she responds.

“That’s… nice of you”, she says, “but you don’t have to do that, I don’t… want you to feel like you have to.”

“Renee said we shouldn’t be alone”, Helena repeats, then shrugs as she starts the engine again, “and we’re a team. It’s what teams do for each other.”

Dinah truly can’t argue with that, and so, she just nods and leans back in the seat as Helena drives; for a while, there is silence, then the singer breaks it by speaking up again, thinking back to the moments in the basement when Helena has been the one to get them both out.

“We wouldn’t be a team anymore without you, you know”, she says, Helena briefly glancing at her before she focuses on the road again, “that was impressive, how you’ve carried us both out of there.”

“I’ve carried you before”, Helena points out, and once again Dinah can only blink, she doesn’t remember that, and she’s fairly certain she should, she still remembers now how Helena’s arms have felt against her back and the back of her thighs after all, the swell of her biceps against her body; at her silence, Helena glances at her, then seems to realize something, letting out an “oh” which prompts Dinah to raise both eyebrows in an attempt to get her to keep talking.

“At the amusement park”, Helena does so after a moment, “after you used your cry and passed out? I carried you to the car. Renee said, and I quote, holy shit, you’re fucking strong.”

“Oh”, Dinah lets out, impressed, realizing that Renee has made a good point as she has been out cold and pretty much dead weight back then, not easy to carry around, “yeah, I… I had no idea. Impressive.”

Helena just shrugs, and as she has her gaze on the road, Dinah sneaks a glance at her bare arms; she has noticed before that the woman is in very good shape, but she can get a closer look now, and she remembers all too well how it has felt to have those arms pick her up and carry her around, and suddenly, she feels decidedly warm.

She rolls the window down a little bit to let some cool air in, thankful when Helena doesn’t comment on it, the assassin probably thinking she wants some more fresh air; and she makes a point of not looking too closely again, she doesn’t want Helena to notice and perhaps feel uncomfortable or weirded out.

Thankfully, it’s not far anymore to her building, and she gets out fairly quickly once Helena has parked the car; to her relief, Dinah feels much better at this point, as well, no longer dizzy and her legs aren’t wobbly anymore, but she’s still somewhat glad when Helena stays close to her as they walk up the stairs, and looks ready to catch her any moment, should she fall, the last thing she needs now is a tumble down the stairs and some bruises or perhaps even broken bones added to her troubles. 

They do make it to her apartment without any accidents though, Helena guiding her to the bedroom at once, telling her it might be smart to lie down, apparently, she can easily tell that Dinah still isn’t fully recovered, letting her know some water would be good too and that she’ll get her some.

“There’s bottles in the fridge”, Dinah helpfully lets her know, Helena giving a brief nod before she vanishes to get the water; it doesn’t take her long to come back with one of the bottles, and Dinah sits up so she can drink, having to admit that the water does make her feel better.

“Okay”, Helena says, and all at once, she seems to snap out of Huntress mode, as they are in the safety of Dinah’s home now, and looks a bit awkward again, “I, um, I’ll go sleep on the couch. Yell in case you need anything.”

“Wait, wait, wait”, Dinah quickly stops her before she can actually leave the room, “there is no way you’ll get so sleep well on my couch, it’s way too short for you.”

“Oh”, Helena lets out, then shrugs, “I’ll give it a try, I can take the floor if it doesn’t work.”

“No way”, Dinah protests, and Helena looks honestly confused, apparently having been sure Dinah would just nod her agreement to that, “you’re staying here with me to keep an eye on me, after you got my ass out of there in the first place and kept this from God knows how much worse. You’re not sleeping on the floor, my bed is big enough for two.”

“Oh”, Helena repeats her previous sound, and Dinah is a bit amused when she blushes visibly, “um… are you sure…? I really can sleep on the floor, I have done it before, it’s fine.”

“I’m sure”, Dinah firmly says, the thought of having Helena in bed right next to her makes her feel quite warm inside again, but she strictly tells herself to ignore this, they are teammates, not even really friends yet, and it certainly isn’t a good moment to have such thoughts and feelings, “I got some comfy clothes in the drawer over there, it’s all gonna be a bit short on you, but take your pick.”

“Okay”, Helena mumbles, Dinah can tell she feels highly awkward now, but she is not protesting anymore, so she figures it’s okay; and Helena does go to look into the drawer, then vanishes into the bathroom to change, Dinah having to hold back a smirk when she comes back out.

The pants barely reach her ankles, clearly too short for her, and the shirt isn’t a perfect fit, either; it reveals a few inches of firm abs though, so Dinah’s not complaining, having to try quite hard to not stare, she knows Helena already feels weird and doesn’t want to make this worse by staring at her.

“Are you really sure”, Helena asks one more time as she stops next to the empty side of the bed; Dinah nods and pats the mattress in response, and after another second, Helena lies down, Dinah rolling her eyes as she immediately can feel how tense Helena is.

“Hey”, she says, reaching out and placing one hand on Helena’s arm, in a hopefully soothing touch, “relax. I know you said my lock is cheap, but we’re good here, alright?”

To her relief, Helena lets out a little snort at the lock comment, and Dinah can feel her relax noticeably; and now that it doesn’t feel anymore as if there is a statue in the bed next to her, Dinah relaxes, too, yawning as she reaches over to the lamp on her bedside table and switches it off.

“Good night”, she says, Helena letting out a vaguely agreeing noise, and Dinah figures this is good enough; she gives her arm a light squeeze, then rolls over and quickly falls asleep, the evening’s excitement taking its toll on her, now that they are in her home and safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bed sharing: check.  
> Many tropes in this fic XD


	11. Chapter 11

Dinah isn’t used to someone sharing her bed, and so, she wakes up quickly when that someone moves a lot more than a sleeping person probably should move.

She’s confused for a moment, having been torn out of somewhat deep sleep, and isn’t even sure who is in bed with her; then, she remembers the meth lab and the smoke and Helena carrying her out and taking her home, and as if to confirm that all of this really has happened, Helena lets out a low groan next to her.

_ Shit _ , Dinah is wide awake and alarmed at once, worried now that perhaps, Helena has been hit harder by the nasty meth lab smoke than she has shown,  _ what if she’s having a seizure or something, shit! _

She’s quick to switch on the light, and feels a bit relieved when Helena doesn’t look as if she is having a seizure; she’s tossing and turning though, and now with the light on, Dinah can see that she is sweating, her eyes moving rapidly beneath the closed lids, and it doesn’t take the singer long to realize what is going on.

“Helena”, she says, quite sure it wouldn’t be a good idea to touch the assassin, she has seen how good the other woman’s reflexes are and is quite certain that they won’t be any less sharp even if Helena is torn out of her sleep, “Helena, hey. Wake up.”

Thankfully, her voice has the desired effect, and Helena still for a second before she opens her eyes; she’s still breathing heavily, but Dinah can tell she’s fully there already, whatever nightmare she’s been having is probably already fading, and unlike Dinah herself, Helena knows at once where she is and who is with her.

“Hey”, Dinah says again, just to make sure Helena realizes she’s in a safe place, with someone who doesn’t mean her harm, “I’m sorry I woke you but… you didn’t seem to be… sleeping all too well.”

Helena pulls in a slow, controlled breath, then abruptly sits up, and runs both hands through her hair; it’s a quick gesture, but Dinah is looking closely now, and can see that her hands are shaking, just enough to let her notice, and immediately, her worry grows again.

“Hey”, she says again, not quite sure what else to say, how to ask Helena if she is okay and if she wants to talk about it; and before she can find the right words, Helena suddenly get out of bed without a word and leaves the bedroom, Dinah hearing a window open a few moments later, figuring that the assassin wants or needs some fresh air.

For a second, she’s unsure if she should follow her or just leave her be, but it feels wrong to just ignore her obvious dismay; and so, she gets out of bed as well, and follows Helena, finding her in the living room at the open window, the assassin staring out into the night, standing so perfectly still that it’s almost eerie.

She doesn’t let it show if she has noticed Dinah enter the room, but Dinah is fairly certain that Helena is very aware of her presence; she’s still not sure what the right words are, so she says nothing, just steps to her side and places one hand on her back, glad when there is no negative reaction to her touch.

“Sorry”, Helena is the one to speak up first after they have just stood there for a while, and Dinah honestly has no idea what she is apologizing for, but the taller woman goes on before she has to ask, “I didn’t mean to wake you. I… get nightmares, sometimes.”

That’s not really a surprise to Dinah, she figures anyone would have nightmares, had they seen what Helena has seen the day her family has been gunned down; and so, she just nods, and tells Helena it’s okay, daring to rub her back a bit now, glad when she can actually feel Helena relax at her touch.

“I thought they would stop”, Helena quietly says, unexpectedly opening up to her, and Dinah’s heart clenches up at her tired, resigned tone, “once I’d get done. I  _ hoped _ they’d stop. But they haven’t. Maybe they never will.”

This leaves Dinah at a loss for words again, and so, instead of saying anything, she does the only other thing she can think of - she moves so that she is facing Helena and hugs her, and feels the assassin go tense when her arms wrap around her, clearly, this is not something Helena is used to, and for a moment, Dinah worries that she has gone too far, that this has been a bad idea and will lead to a bad reaction now.

Then, Helena shudders before she practically slumps into Dinah’s embrace, and the singer can feel her return the hug; relieved that she hasn’t messed things up, Dinah holds her and rubs her back, halfway expecting her to be crying or at least close to tears when she pulls back again, but when Helena does so a short while later, her eyes are dry, clearly, she has regained her composure fairly quickly.

“Thank you”, she still says, and there is a small tremble of emotion in her voice, just enough to let Dinah notice; Dinah just nods, and pats her back for good measure before she pulls her own hands back, and she could have sworn that Helena looks disappointed, just for a second, but yet again just enough for Dinah to pick up on it. 

“Nothing to thank me for”, she reassures the taller woman, glad when she earns a little smile in response, “you ready to go back to bed?”

Helena nods at that, Dinah giving her a smile of her own before she leads the way back to the bedroom; and once they both have gotten comfortable again, she takes hold of Helena’s hand, glad when the assassin doesn’t try to pull away or tense up again, but has her fingers curl around Dinah’s in response, her touch clearly welcome.

“Sleep well”, Dinah says, earning a vaguely agreeing noise again - before Helena clears her throat, then mumbles “you too”, and even though Dinah still feels bad for her, she also feels oddly happy as she drifts off into sleep again, aware that this has been yet another important step they have taken together.

She falls asleep again quickly, still tired after all the excitement; Helena remains awake next to her for a bit longer, focusing on the feeling of Dinah’s hand in hers, until she falls asleep again as well, and for the rest of the night, she sleeps peacefully, no more nightmares plaguing her dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dinah comforting Helena after a nightmare: check  
> XD


	12. Chapter 12

A few weeks go by, during which the three of them go out on more missions, getting most of their leads from Ellen; and as they keep working together, they get better at it, starting to get used to each other’s fighting style and working out how to best combine them to take their foes down faster and more efficiently.

The fights all tend to start the same way, with Helena being the first to enter whichever building or room their targets are in, and taking one or sometimes even two out with her crossbow before the others realize what is happening; she does make a point of not killing them then, to Renee’s relief, but makes sure to wound them badly enough that they won’t be able to join the fight again.

As they keep fighting together, Dinah can tell that Helena also is opening up to her more; she’s still not the most talkative person, Dinah figures she never will be, but she doesn’t tense up anymore when Dinah touches her, and her answers when the singer asks her something, while short, aren’t as monosyllabic anymore, Dinah figuring that this is another good thing.

Helena still seems somewhat guarded with Renee, but Dinah is pretty certain this will change over time, as well; it makes sense, she figures, that the assassin would open up to her faster, after all, she has been there to witness her having a nightmare, and has comforted her afterwards, and that certainly has helped with getting them closer together.

Dinah is glad they are growing closer, and that Helena is trusting her more and more, but she’s also troubled by this, because while she knows they are becoming friends, she keeps catching herself looking at the assassin, staring at her defined arms and sometimes at her abs, and while others might have thought that Helena’s utter lack of social skill was off-putting, she finds it oddly adorable and endearing.

At least, she tells herself whenever she’s ended up staring at Helena longer than appropriate for a friend, chances are low that Helena will actually notice her checking her out, she figures that Helena has no idea how to pick up on those sort of clues; she can tell though that Renee is aware of what is going on with her, as the former cop sometimes is smirking at her knowingly or raises her eyebrows at her, but keeps any thoughts she might have about this to herself.

Dinah is glad about this, as well, she’s not quite ready to openly admit her growing attraction to the assassin; and she finds herself wondering if it will actually ever lead anywhere, if Helena is attracted to her as well or if she’ll end up having to deal with a one-sided crush, having to admit to herself that Helena is hard to read, it’s hard to tell what the assassin is thinking beneath the awkwardness and even harder when she’s in Huntress mode.

Feeling Renee nudge her snaps Dinah out of her thoughts - and out of staring at Helena’s biceps once again - and she forces herself to focus, they are out on yet another mission and she knows she needs to be on high alert; Ellen has given them another lead for drug dealers, but they are one of the bigger gangs, and the DA has warned them that they will be well armed, and not as easy to take down as other gangs they have faced so far.

“Alright”, Renee mutters as she keeps her eyes on them, the gang gearing up for another night of business, unaware of the three women watching them, “they got more guns than they are people so… Crossbow, I hate to say it, but if one or two happen to be hit lethally, no hard feelings.”

Helena lets out an agreeing grunt in response, by now not bristling anymore if anyone calls her Crossbow, having accepted it as a nickname, even though Dinah knows she still prefers Huntress; she readies her crossbow, their usual approach of having her go in first so she can quickly take out one or two guys having worked well so far, so they all figure it will work this time, as well.

The assassin looks back at Renee, who gives a short nod, and a second later, Helena is moving; two of the guys notice her approach and look up, but they can’t do much more than that, she quickly fires off two bolts and they go down, one of them screaming, the other deadly quiet, blood pooling around him as he lies motionless. 

Unlike the previous times when Helena has shot to kill, Renee doesn’t react much this time, all too aware that they are outnumbered and outgunned; and the remaining guys are quick to recover from their shot, and pull said guns out and start firing, the three women quickly diving for cover.

Dinah ends up in a spot where she can see Helena and Helena can see her, the assassin focused on the task at hand though as she is reloading her crossbow with fast, practiced moves; she leans out of cover just for a second and fires, and another man goes down, gurgling around the bolt in his throat, Dinah finding herself impressed at how easily Helena has made that shot, barely having taken a second to aim.

Renee is firing as well, and Dinah regrets now she has no ranged weapon of her own; she realizes she can get one though, and makes a daring dive for the man Helena has killed, hoping the other two have noticed what she is doing and cover her while she pulls his gun from his holster.

Thankfully, nobody takes any shots at her, and she can find cover again; she takes a moment to make sure the gun is loaded, then releases the safety and fires, aiming for arms and legs, she’s with Renee when it comes to killing their targets, trying to avoid it whenever possible, if only so there will be someone alive who can tell them about the people behind their operation, the three of them fairly certain that the gang is part of something bigger.

Helena either has no such qualms or figures Renee and Dinah will keep at least one alive, and they don’t really need more than one; she takes another one down with a well-placed bolt, then ducks behind her cover again, hearing how Dinah and Renee keep shooting, and allowing herself a moment to look at them, just to make sure they are doing fine.

She looks at Dinah just in time to see it happen, hearing the shot from one of their remaining opponents and seeing how the bullet easily smashes through the large crate Dinah is using for cover; as if by magic, a frayed hole appears in the singer’s pants, halfway between her knee and her hip, and blood splashes, and in the same second the blood splatters to the ground and Dinah lets out a cry of pain, Helena sees red.

She vaults over her own cover, teeth grit, and fires, sending a bolt into the leg of the man who has hurt Dinah - she doesn’t want him dead, not yet, no fast death for him if she has any say in it -, she can see another one aim for her from the corner of her eye, but before he can actually pull the trigger, one of her knives is in her hand and she throws it, the man crying out as he goes down, the blade having gone into his shoulder all the way to the hilt.

There’s only a few left standing now, and Helena’s rage is still burning bright, fuelling her; it doesn’t take long anymore after she’s thrown the knife, she ploughs through the remaining gang members with the frightening efficiency of someone who has trained for situations exactly like this one years, and not even two minutes after Dinah has been hit, the men are lying hurt or dead around her, fire still in her eyes when she turns back to the one who’s hurt Dinah.

He reads his death sentence in her eyes, she can tell, from how his own eyes go wide and his already pale face goes even whiter; the rage lessens a bit, enough so she would have heard if Renee or Dinah had called out to her to stop her, but neither of them says a word, she can see Renee is crouching next to Dinah from the corner of her eye, and both are watching her, but neither of them makes a move to stop her.

“Please”, he still has time to say, then Helena aims and fires, and the bolt hits him right in the throat; he gurgles as he dies, but Helena doesn’t bother to wait for him to get done with that, turning away from him and striding to where Dinah is leaning against the damaged crate, Renee pressing her balled up jacket against the wound in her leg.

“Doesn’t seem to have hit an artery or bone”, the former cop says, and Helena gives a terse nod, “if we take her to the hospital, they’ll be required to report it, they have to with bullet wounds.”

“I know”, Helena says, voice rough, “I’ll take care of it. Move.”

Renee raises her brows at the assassin’s tone, but doesn’t protest, moving two steps aside; she winces when Helena rips her jacket up, but doesn’t say anything, just watches how the taller woman uses the strips of cloth she has created to bind the wound, a make-shift bandage, but it will do for now, if only to lessen or completely stop the flow of blood.

“This will hurt”, she warns Dinah, before she picks her up on her arms yet again; Dinah does wince at the pain, but holds back another cry, the pain is a steady pulse in her leg and she doesn’t trust herself enough to make sure none of her power will come along, should she cry out, and the last thing she wants now is to Canary Cry Helena in the face.

Renee leads the way back to the car, Helena right behind her, carrying the wounded singer with ease; each step sends fresh flashes of pain through Dinah’s leg, and she can feel that it’s still bleeding, but the flow has lessened, and she tells herself it’ll be alright, all she has to do for now is to hold on and to not pass out, and surely, it’ll all be alright soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rage issues have made an appearance XD


	13. Chapter 13

Quite a while later, back in her apartment, Dinah almost wishes she would have passed out, even though she knows that would have been bad.

It’s bad to be awake too now though, as Helena is working on getting the bullet out of her leg; the assassin has given her belt to her so she can bite down on it, and she makes good use of that, fairly certain her teeth will go through the leather soon as she bites down as hard as she can so she won’t scream out loud. 

“I almost got it”, Helena tells her, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on the wound, her work on it has made it bleed again, but she knows that couldn’t have been avoided and so she doesn’t let it worry her, “just a little bit longer.”

Dinah manages a brief nod, not even sure if Helena sees as the assassin doesn’t look away from her leg for a second; and finally, the bullet comes out, deformed and glistening with blood, Helena barely glancing at it as she lets it drop onto the table.

“There”, she mutters, briefly glancing at Dinah before she grabs the disinfectant, knowing this will hurt even worse than removing the bullet has; Dinah looks like she’s on the verge of passing out, but Helena knows it has to be done, and she finds herself gritting her own teeth as she gets to work again, working hard to not let Dinah’s muffled cries slow her down.

It gets increasingly harder to not let Dinah’s noises of pain affect her, but she tells herself she has to keep her focus; and finally, after cleaning, stitching and bandaging the wound, she’s done, letting out a slow, controlled breath as she sits back.

“I’m done”, she says, Dinah is breathing heavily and there’s tears drying on her cheeks now, but at least, Helena tells herself, she is still awake and aware, “I’m sorry, I did this as fast as I could.”

“I know”, Dinah manages, Helena feeling relieved when her breathing already starts sounding less laboured, showing how fast she is recovering, “and I appreciate that. There’s painkillers in my bathroom, would you…?”

“Sure”, Helena says at once, a bit relieved that she has another task, small as it may be, already having begun to feel awkward again, she hasn’t minded being alone with Dinah like that while she has been taking care of the injury for her, but whenever it’s just them with nothing to distract her, she’s painfully aware of how socially unskilled she is, feeling like a complete idiot each time she opens her mouth.

Quickly, she comes to her feet and makes her way to the bathroom, finding the painkillers there; they are not very strong, Helena realizes, raising her brows at the package and making a mental note to get Dinah some stronger ones, but those will have to do for now, and so, she carries them to the living room, handing the little pack to the singer before she goes to get her a bottle of water.

“Thank you”, Dinah says with a little smile as Helena returns with the water, looking much better already, and Helena is a bit impressed by how well Dinah is recovering, “and not just for that. It seems like you’re making it a habit to carry me around.”

“You’d been shot in the leg”, Helena points out, her deadpan tone making Dinah smile a bit again before she washes one of the painkillers down, “you couldn’t walk. I’m strong enough to carry you around, so I did.”

“Damn right you’re strong enough”, Dinah tells her, and perhaps it’s the combination of painkiller and blood loss which lets her be so daring, daring enough to reach out, grasp Helena’s upper arm and give a squeeze, the assassin blinking at her, “those guns aren’t for show, I could tell even before the fight at the Booby Trap, just from when you took off your jacket.”

Helena isn’t good with words on the best of days, and she has no idea what she could respond to something like this; so, she just awkwardly clears her throat, and Dinah pulls her hand back in response, her skin feeling oddly cold where the other woman’s fingers have been moments ago.

“Sorry”, the singer says, prompting Helena to look at her again, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine”, Helena says, fairly certain that this is the right response, and it seems she’s right as Dinah smiles a bit again, “I’m just… not used to… being told such things?”

“Well, it’s the truth”, Dinah tells her, so solemn that Helena can only believe her, “one just needs to take one look at you to know how fit you are. Honestly, it’s impressive.”

“It’s what was needed”, Helena lets her know, and from how she seems to recite those words, Dinah can tell at once they are not her own, and that she probably has heard them many times in her life, “I needed strength and skill and stamina to avenge my family.”

“And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have that when fighting drug dealing gangs, either”, Dinah comments thoughtfully, Helena shrugging before she nods, colouring though when the singer continues, “even though I have to say, the way you took them down after that one guy had shot me, that was even more impressive. I mean, holy shit, they didn’t stand a chance.”

Helena just shrugs again, she’s glad Dinah doesn’t ask her much about how she actually has done that back then, has reacted so fast to everything all around her; it all has happened in a sort of red, angry haze, and she’s not sure she would have been able to explain, had Dinah asked her, quite certain she would have ended up sounding like a psychopath.

She feels like she has to say  _ something _ though, sternly telling herself that she can’t just sit here and be quiet, that will make her appear all weird too, and she feels like she needs to give Dinah at least some sort of explanation - after all, they have gotten hurt before, they all have, and she never has reacted like this, and she’s pretty sure Dinah is very aware of that, and just not saying anything because she’s too nice and kind to do so.

“I didn’t know”, she blurts out, Dinah blinking, not quite sure what Helena means, but before she can say something, the assassin goes on, the words bursting out of her uncontrolled, she couldn’t have stopped them if she had wanted to, “how badly you were hurt. I knew it was the leg but he could have hit an artery or a bone and you could have bled out then and there and…”

“And?” Dinah gently tries to prompt her, she can tell this is an important moment, but she also somehow just knows that, if she says the wrong thing or too much now, it will be ruined, and that is the last thing she wants to happen, she’s not quite sure if she should try touching Helena again, but makes her decision fairly quickly, sitting up so she can place her hand on the other woman’s forearm, and once again Helena is disconcertingly tense, but she doesn’t pull away, Dinah figuring that this is a good sign.

“And I thought I’d lose you”, Helena quietly says, now not able to look at her any longer, staring at her feet instead, “and I… that hurt. That thought hurt.”

“You’re not losing me”, Dinah reassures her, her heart clenches up as she takes note of Helena swallowing heavily in response, still not looking at her, “I’ll be fine, also thanks to you. Because you… Helena? Look at me, please?”

Helena does, and Dinah can tell how difficult it is for her to do so, not that she can blame her, with the raw emotion she just can’t hide, perhaps, Dinah thinks to herself, she never really has been taught how to; she has learned how to kill a man when she’s been ten, having somewhat casually mentioned that once, but whoever has taught her that sorely neglected teaching her anything not connected to her quest for vengeance, and that shows now.

Dinah gives her credit for still doing it though, and for not keeping her gaze fixed on her feet; she rubs her arm soothingly, and is glad to feel Helena relax a bit, not much, but enough that she can pick up on it.

“You’re not going to lose me”, the singer reassures her, Helena swallowing heavily again, “tonight, it was you yourself who made sure of that, by taking down those guys and by getting me to safety and taking care of me. I’ll be okay, because of you. You know that, right?”

Helena manages a small nod, not trusting herself to say anything else, her throat feels oddly tight and constricted now; it has been a long time since she has cried, and she wonders if she is close to it now, telling herself sternly that she won’t, she has been taught that tears don’t do any good, and crying wouldn’t help in this moment, either, it’d probably only make her look weak and weird to Dinah.

“So”, Dinah goes on, glad that Helena doesn’t look away again, “thank you, for all of that. I’m glad you’re my friend.”

Helena looks back at her for a few seconds, and Dinah holds her gaze, but doesn’t say anything, she can once again feel that something important is happening - and finally, Helena does move, and wraps her up in a hug, it’s a bit clumsy and awkward thanks to their positions on the couch and her injured leg and probably also because Helena usually isn’t one to initiate hugs, but Dinah doesn’t let any of this deter her.

She hugs Helena back and holds her close, rubbing her back as she feels her relax in her arms, and she knows what a big thing this is, and even though her leg still hurts quite a lot, Dinah finds herself smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hugs make everything better! :D


	14. Chapter 14

This time, it’s Dinah who insists that Helena spends the night, she can tell the woman is exhausted and doesn’t want her out and about in that state, especially not late at night in Gotham, and thankfully, Helena doesn’t bother arguing much, giving in fairly quickly when Dinah makes it clear that she truly wants her to stay.

“And don’t even think about suggesting the couch or the floor again”, she adds, glad when she earns a wry smile from the assassin, “we know we both can sleep comfortably in my bed, there’s a precedent.”

“Right”, Helena says, Dinah smirking at her in triumph, “but neither of us had fresh bullet wounds when that happened, so. Yeah.”

“I have  _ one _ bullet wound”, Dinah corrects her, “one, not plural. And you took good care of that, and I’m fairly certain you won’t accidentally kick me there during the night, so it’ll be fine. Come on, let’s get some sleep, you look exhausted.”

Helena makes a face at that, but doesn’t protest, seeing red the way it has happened when she has seen Dinah hurt tends to take quite the toll on her, and she’s feeling it now; once again, Dinah provides her with clothes she can wear to sleep, and even though it feels strange to share a bed with the singer again, it’s not quite as weird as it has been the first time they have done this.

She still worries that she might accidentally bump Dinah’s leg during the night, but the singer herself has no such concerns, and so, Helena tries her best to push her own qualms about this aside, as well; she gets comfortable and yawns heartily, seeing Dinah smile from the corner of her eye, but not letting it bother her, knowing it’s not malicious or to make fun of her.

“Good night”, Dinah says, sounding quite sleepy as well at this point, but then, that is not surprising, considering she’s taken a bullet, and then has had said bullet removed on her couch, “sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“What?” Helena says, sounding so startled that it makes the singer snort; she reassures her it’s just a saying and that there are no actual bugs in her bed, then switches off the light, fast asleep not even two minutes later. 

Helena needs a little bit longer, but not much feeling tired and drained now; she has another minute to hope she won’t have nightmares and wake Dinah up again, then she’s fast asleep as well, getting the rest she needs after the night’s excitement.

* * *

Helena registers several things when she wakes up, as always, she goes from asleep to perfectly awake and aware within seconds; the first thing she notices is the sun shining into the room, showing that Dinah and she have slept quite long, but then, they have had a long night. 

The second thing she realizes is the warm weight on her body, and her heart seems to pause for a second before it takes up its job again, beating hard in her chest now, because during the night, Dinah clearly has moved closer to her and is now halfway on top of her, one arm thrown over her stomach and her head resting on her shoulder, the singer still fast asleep.

Helena can’t remember the last time someone has been so close to her, but she has to admit that it feels nice; she can feel the warmth of Dinah’s body, different to that of the blanket, and the weight of the singer is oddly comforting instead of restricting, the way Dinah seems to fit against her feeling strangely right.

Not wanting to wake Dinah, Helena lies perfectly still, very focused on the feel of the other woman’s body against her own; despite her best efforts though, Dinah stirs a short while later, then blinks sleepily as she opens her eyes, unlike Helena appearing quite unperturbed by their position, even smiling a bit as her eyes meet the assassin’s.

“Good morning”, she says, and Helena feels slight dismay when she sits up and stretches, grimacing as she can feel the pull on the stitches in her leg, but at least, they haven’t opened up again during the night, showing that Helena has done a good job, “did you sleep well?”

“Yeah”, Helena manages, wondering if Dinah will comment on how they have woken up or if she won’t, and if she should say anything about it in case Dinah does not, “did you…?”

“Very”, Dinah reassures her, running both hands through her sleep-tousled hair, and seeing her like this, so relaxed and well rested, sitting in bed with her, causes Helena’s stomach to tingle oddly, a sensation she can’t remember ever having felt before, “I’m surprised, honestly, you’re like, made of muscle, but you’re very comfortable to lie on.”

“Oh”, Helena lets out, feeling her cheeks heat up again, and that only gets worse when Dinah turns to look at her and she can see the smirk on the singer’s face, “um… well, yeah, I was… relaxed.”

“Good”, Dinah says, then reaches out and pats her arm, “you should try to get there again, you’re all tense. You know you don’t have to be on edge here, right?”

Helena manages a short nod, not pointing out that she’s basically always on edge when she’s awake, fairly certain Dinah is aware of this already anyway; the singer gives her another smile, then gets out of bed, Helena immediately tensing up again, ready to jump up and catch her, should her injured leg refuse to carry her weight. 

Despite the relative freshness of the wound, Dinah seems to be fine though, only favouring her wounded leg a little bit as she declares that she’ll have a shower and makes her way to the bathroom.

Helena feels a bit lost for a moment while she hears the water start in the bathroom; then, she figures she might as well get started with breakfast, and gets out of bed, stretching as she does every morning before she makes her way to the kitchen.

She gets the coffee machine started, then checks the fridge for something she can make breakfast with; and by the time Dinah is done in the bathroom and comes limping into the kitchen, dressed in clothes clearly meant to be worn for a comfortable day around the house, Helena is standing the oven and stirring egg, ham and diced vegetables in a pain, Dinah raising her brows in appreciation at the smell rising from it.

“Nice”, she then says as she steps closer, Helena taking note of how she leans on the kitchen counter and takes as much weight off her injured leg as she can without actually sitting down, “if I had known you’d be making such a delicious breakfast, I’d have you sleep over more often, but we can still do that in the future.”

“It’s nothing special”, Helena tells her, shrugging, “best what I could do with what you had. You ought to go grocery shopping. Once your leg is better.”

“Yeah, I have been putting that off”, Dinah admits, peering into the pan, “but it seems you found enough for a good breakfast, so lucky us. You want me to take over here, then you can take a shower?”

“You should sit down”, Helena reprimands her in response, using her free hand to gesture at the singer’s leg, “I’ll shower after breakfast. Go take a seat.”

“Okay”, Dinah gives in surprisingly quickly, raising her brows at the taller woman, “wow, you can be quite bossy if you want to. No way I’d argue with that.”

Helena just shrugs, but she is glad that Dinah is listening to what she has said, as the singer moves to sit at the kitchen table; she grimaces a bit when as she stretches her leg, and Helena makes a mental note to change the bandage after breakfast, wanting to get a look at the wound to make sure it’s not showing signs of infection.

She deems the food ready and carefully splits it up between two plates, then fills cups with coffee; clearly, Dinah enjoys being served breakfast like this, smiling at her as she thanks her, and Helena finds herself smiling back, belatedly realizing that, for the first time in years, she’s not on edge as she sits down to have breakfast with the singer.

Perhaps, she thinks to herself as she starts eating, Dinah has been right and they should do this more often in the future, if only so she’ll get in a few hours of being completely relaxed and calm and every now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Helena, relax x)


	15. Chapter 15

As it turns out, Helena is not only good at removing bullets and stitching up wounds, but also at taking care of the injury afterwards; she tells Dinah exactly what to look out for to catch signs of infection quickly, and tells her to take it easy for at least two weeks, so that the injury has time to heal, advising her that there shouldn’t be much movement until the stitches can come out.

She also makes it her mission to do everything she can to make sure Dinah doesn’t walk around much;she goes grocery shopping for her - after which the singer has more vegetables at home than she ever had before - and buys her painkillers when she’s in danger of running out, and takes regular looks at the healing wound, just to make sure Dinah hasn’t missed anything.

She seems satisfied with how the wound is healing though, and a week and a half after Dinah has been shot, tells her that soon the stitches can come out as she covers the injury with a bandage again; Dinah is relieved at that, she’s starting to get annoyed being cooped up in her home all the time, and wants to go out with the other two again, knowing Renee and Helena have been going after smaller gangs and criminals while she’s unable to go with them.

“You can remove the stitches, right”, Dinah wants to know as Helena works on bandaging her up again, “I mean, you did put them in, so…?”

“I can”, Helena confirms, briefly glancing at her, and Dinah goes on before she can stop herself, she usually doesn’t ask Helena questions like the one she is about to ask, having realized fairly quickly Helena isn’t comfortable talking about the time before she has come to Gotham, but she wants to know this time, really wants to know, the urge too strong to ignore it.

“Okay, so”, she thus says, Helena glancing at her again, then focusing on the bandage once more, even though Dinah figures she probably could have done this in her sleep, with how quick and precise she does the job, “you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to, just so you know, but… how often have you done this for yourself?”

“Couple times”, Helena tells her, the quick answer making Dinah feel oddly warm inside as it shows that the assassin is trusting her more now, and she enjoys that thought, “stitched it up, too. And took the stitches out.”

“Jeez”, Dinah lets out, she can’t imagine ever doing something like this to herself, the pain when Helena has done it for her nearly has made her pass out and she finds herself wondering how high the woman’s pain tolerance actual is, “that’s badass, I don’t think I’d be able to do that.”

“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice”, Helena lets her know, finishing with the bandage and giving a little shrug, “I was on my own, and I couldn’t go to the hospital with it, so… yeah.”

“Total badass”, Dinah declares, glad when this earns her a little smile from the other woman, “and I appreciate your help with this, I really do. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome”, Helena says after a moment, sitting back as her work on the singer’s leg is done for now, “looks like the stitches can come out in a day or two, it’s healing well.”

Dinah nods her agreement to that, she’s never had a bullet wound before, but when she has seen it during the changing of the bandage, it has looked like its healing just fine, and it barely hurts anymore even when she puts her weight on that leg, so she figures Helena’s right and the stitches can come out fairly soon, to her relief.

“Thank goodness”, she says, Helena looking at her again, “I can’t wait to go out with you guys again and kick some ass. I’m feeling bad, being cooped up in here while you two do all the work.”

“Maybe avoid using that leg for high kicks for a bit”, Helena advises, earning another smile from the singer, “even once the stitches are out, until it’s completely healed. Just to be on the safe side.”

“Yeah”, Dinah agrees with that, “maybe I should get a baseball bat again, like during that fight against Sionis and his goons, then I won’t have to kick so much. Honestly, I just want to go out and kick criminal butt again, I miss it. I miss fighting side by side with you. With you guys.”

She corrects herself in the last second, and wonders if Helena has picked up on it, fairly certain though that the assassin hasn’t, well aware that the woman isn’t good with subtle; Helena clears her throat and colours a bit, and that makes Dinah a bit less sure that she hasn’t noticed, Helena avoiding it to look at her now as she responds.

“I’ve missed having you there, too”, she says, clearing her throat again before she goes on, clearly uncomfortable, and Dinah gives her credit for continuing anyway, “it’s been going well with Renee and me but… you’re part of the team.”

Dinah nods at that and, following a sudden impulse, reaches out and grasps Helena’s hand; to her relief, the assassin doesn’t pull away, and even looks at her again, and she’s pretty certain she feels an actual jolt when their eyes meet, once again very aware of how attracted she is to the woman.

She already has been back at the Booby Trap, she knows, having felt drawn to her before they even had said more than five words to each other; and as they have worked together, and Helena has taken care of her after she’d been hurt, this only has grown, as Helena has let her see the person behind the mask of Huntress, has shown her awkward and more human side, a far cry from the stonecold badass she is whenever they go into a fight.

“I’m glad I am”, Dinah tells her, squeezing her hand and noticing how Helena swallows heavily, clearly, the touch also has an effect on her, “I’m glad we met that night, and that you’re my friend.”

“I’m glad you’re my friend, too”, Helena lets her know, blushing again, but once again she doesn’t let her clear awkwardness stop her, Dinah’s heart flying out to her once more when she goes on, “I, um… I haven’t had a friend in a long time. I’m glad to have you.”

Dinah squeezes her hand, and that prompts Helena to look at her again; their eyes meet once more, and there is weight in that gaze, Dinah finding herself quite mesmerized, and she can tell Helena feels similar, taking note of how the assassin swallows heavily once again.

It’s an important moment, Dinah realizes, and she is not willing to just let it go by unused; and so, she starts moving closer, her free hand coming up to cup Helena’s jaw, the assassin’s eyes briefly flickering to her lips before they come back up to meet her own again, Dinah unable to hold back a smile, very aware of where Helena has been looking.

She moves closer still, she can feel Helena’s breath on her face now, they are close enough that it only will take another second or two until she’ll be kissing her… and just when her lips are about to meet Helena’s, the assassin suddenly pulls away and practically jumps up from the couch, startling Dinah so much that she can only sit and stare, she has expected several things to happen now, but certainly not this.

“I’m sorry”, Helena stammers, already turning towards the door, “I have to… I gotta go, I’m sorry.”

“Helena”, Dinah still tries to stop her, but to no avail, and before she even has managed to get off the couch, Helena is out the door and is gone, Dinah slumping back onto her seat, her heart heavy now as she realizes how badly she possibly just has fucked up their friendship and their team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, Helena, why :(  
> (I'm sorry ^^; )


	16. Chapter 16

Dinah has tried calling Helena a couple times and, when that has brought no success, has sent her a few texts, asking her at first to call her back, then pretty much pleading her to do so; there has been no response though, not a single word, and now, Dinah feels glum and bad as she sits on the windowsill and stares out into the night.

It seems as if the weather has decided to match her mood, she bitterly thinks to herself as she watches raindrops hit the window, following the little rivulets of water which trail down the glass; on any other day, she would have enjoyed this weather, she’s always liked rain, but she doesn’t like it tonight, she’s felt bad ever since Helena has stormed off and only feels worse now, sitting here and staring out into the night.

Again and again, she thinks back to the look which has been on Helena’s face, the pure shock and the all too clear need to get away, the image keeps coming back no matter how hard Dinah tries to push it out of her mind; her sight blurs, and she angrily wipes at her eyes, she doesn’t want to cry over this, but it seems like her body has different ideas, as the tears keep coming, no matter how hard she tries to hold them back.

_ Way to fuck it all up, Lance, _ she scolds herself, giving up the fight against her tears as apparently, th emotions just have to come out some way,  _ she might be halfway on her way to Sicily already, how are you gonna explain that to Renee?  _

Dinah knows that this isn’t necessarily true, perhaps, Helena won’t skip town and will show up at their next meeting as if nothing has happened; she has to admit that this might not happen though, that Helena might indeed be gone, perhaps has left town already, and if she has, there’s no one to blame but Dinah herself.

She wipes at her eyes again, at least, the flow of tears has stopped again, and glances at her phone, just to make sure she hasn’t missed anything; there’s no call and no text though, and she sighs to herself, looking out the window again.

It’s hard to believe she has misread Helena so completely, she ponders as she stares out into the night and watches the rain fall down, she’s been so sure that the way Helena is looking at her shows that she is attracted to her too, that how Helena has taken care of her the past days is just her way to show how much she cares; and yet Helena has been so fast to run off when Dinah has made her move, a clear rejection, it only could have been more obvious if she had yelled it in Dinah’s face that she’s not into her that way.

A knock from her door tears her out of her dark musings, and she holds back a groan, the last thing she wants now is any sort of company; she figures it might be Renee though, or perhaps Harley and Cass, and she doesn’t want them to think she’s passed out on the floor or something and break down her door, they all know she has been hurt after all and while the wound is healing well, that doesn’t mean that there might not have been any complications.

So, even though Dinah isn’t really in the mood to see anyone, she gets up from her seat and makes her way to the door; she opens it a bit more forcefully than necessary, and a moment later, her irritation puffs away into nothingness as she finds the last person she has expected to see in front of her door.

It’s clear that Helena has been out and about in the rain, her hair and clothes dripping wet, showing that she has been out there for quite a while; for a few seconds, they both just stand there looking at each other, little puddles forming around Helena’s boots as she doesn’t move a muscle, but Dinah can tell she is struggling to say something, so she remains quiet, giving her the time she needs to gather herself.

Dinah expects Helena to say something, maybe apologize or give an explanation for her hasty exit; when Helena does move at last though, it’s not to talk, and what she does instead catches Dinah off-guard so badly it takes her a few moments to react.

Helena takes a swift step closer to her, one of her arms going around her waist while her other hand comes up to cup her jaw, and then she is kissing her, and it’s not the sort of soft gentle kiss Dinah has had in mind when she has made her move, it’s full of fervour and demanding and it makes the singer’s knees all wobbly.

It takes her a few heartbeats to regain her senses enough to actually kiss Helena back, but when she does, she does so with the same enthusiasm; her hands come up to grasp Helena by her jacket and she pulls her into the apartment, moving back without breaking the kiss, hearing how Helena kicks the door close, and now that she has her inside, she lets go of the jacket to wrap both arms around her.

The kiss goes on for long enough that Dinah can feel the wetness from Helena’s clothes and hair seep through her own clothing, but she couldn’t have cared less; it does bother her a bit when Helena pulls back again at last, her face flushed and her breath heavy, showing that she is as affected by the kiss as Dinah is, the singer quite glad that Helena’s arms are still around her as she doesn’t quite trust her legs to keep her upright, after having been kissed like that.

“I’m sorry”, Helena says, of all things, and Dinah can only blink, not quite there enough yet to realize what Helena is talking about, but thankfully, the taller woman elaborates before she has to ask, “for… just running off like that. I panicked.”

“It’s fine”, Dinah tells her at once, moving one hand to the back of the taller woman’s neck so she can play with the wet strands of hair there, “I’m just glad you came back. Very glad.”

“I would have come back earlier”, Helena admits, apparently only now realizing that she is still wearing her boots and jacket and moving to take those items off, going on as she does so, “but I was… afraid. That I messed it all up and that you’d slam the door in my face.”

Hearing Helena admit this so openly stuns Dinah somewhat, she has seen the woman go up against ten men all on her own without a hint of fear, and yet here she is now, admitting that she has been afraid of what Dinah might do; and the moment she is out of her boots, she steps closer and hugs the singer tight, Dinah returning the embrace at once and holding her close.

“Thank you for telling me this”, Dinah says, rubbing her back and making a face as her shirt is wet, too, “I know this wasn’t easy for you, I appreciate it. Come on, let's get you into some dry clothes or you’ll catch the cold of the century.”

Helena nods her agreement to that and follows Dinah into the bedroom; she knows by now where the comfortable clothing is, and helps herself to fresh, dry clothes while Dinah retreats, giving her some privacy so she can change, even though Helena wouldn’t have minded if she had stayed.

She quickly changes, glad to get out of her wet clothes, and throws them into the laundry basket; then, she makes her way back to the living room, where Dinah is sitting on the couch, the singer smiling invitingly at her as she pats the free seat next to her, taking note that Helena looks a bit nervous again, but she does sit down next to her, and doesn’t react badly when Dinah reaches over and grasps her hand. 

“There’s something else”, Helena says, before Dinah has the chance to speak up, “something else I should tell you. So you know what you’ll be… getting into.”

“Okay”, Dinah says, not quite sure what to expect; Helena clears her throat, and Dinah can tell she feels awkward again, but she doesn’t look away, bravely holding the singer’s gaze as she goes on.

“I’ve never… done any of this before”, she lets Dinah know, “not the team thing, friendships and certainly not… any kind of relationship. I was a shy and quiet kid, I didn’t really have friends in school here in Gotham, then my family got killed, and, well…”

It seems Helena realizes only now she hasn’t really told Dinah anything about her life before Gotham, and she falls silent; Dinah squeezes her hand reassuringly, quietly encouraging her to go on, and after a moment, Helena does so, revealing more to her than she has to anyone else so far since her return to the city.

“One of the goons found me alive, after the shooting”, she tells the singer, Dinah listening in silence, knowing what a big thing this is, “I guess he was supposed to make sure I’m dead, but instead of finishing the job, he smuggled me out of there and brought me to Sicily, to his father and brother. Both assassins, and they raised and trained me. Not much time or opportunity for friendship there, and certainly not for relationships.”

“Oh jeez”, Dinah realizes what Helena is implying, eyes briefly widening while Helena blushes a bit, “so when I moved to kiss you, that was almost your first kiss? Oh God, no wonder you freaked out, I’m so sorry, I should have… I don’t know, said something or something.”

“Well, I didn’t really say anything either when I came back”, Helena points out, glad that Dinah is reacting so well to this, “but, yeah, that was my first kiss. And I’m aware of how pathetic and weird that is.”

“It’s not”, Dinah firmly says, Helena blinking in surprise, not daring to argue though at the strict look Dinah gives her, “and don’t you let anyone tell you different. I’m very glad you told me this, Helena, I know this isn’t easy for you. Thank you.”

Helena smiles a bit at that, and shrugs; Dinah smiles back at her, then moves closer to her and gives her a questioning look, and once Helena has given her a short nod, the singer moves to kiss her again, a slower and more gentle kiss this time, and Helena practically melts into it, barely aware she is doing it as she wraps her arms around the singer.

This might all be new to her, she thinks to herself as their kiss deepens, but she certainly can get used to the feeling of Dinah so close to her and of the singer’s lips on her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, all is well :D


	17. Chapter 17

If anyone had told Dinah a year ago that not only will she be part of a vigilante group, but that she actually will miss going out to fight, she would have called that person crazy; now though, as she kicks another goon in the chest and sends him to the ground, she admits to herself that she has missed this, has missed doing something good for the city this way and has missed the way Renee, Helena and she work together during those fights.

They are working together well at this point, Dinah kicking one guy so that he staggers into the general reaction of Renee, the former cop then taking him down fully with a well-placed punch; from the corner of her eye, Dinah sees how Helena blocks the piece of wood one of the other goons swings at her with her forearms, then grabs it before he can pull it back and yanks it forward, kicking at his legs at the same moment and taking him down with ease.

Dinah would have loved to watch her fight some more, it’s quite the sight after all, the mixture of angry determination and cold, precise skill Helena uses; there’s two guys still standing though, and she knows it would be dangerous to get distracted, so she keeps her focus on the fight, until the remaining goons are groaning on the ground as well. 

“Good job”, Renee comments as she pulls her phone from her pocket, taking a few steps away as she makes her call to the authorities; and while she is busy with that, Dinah makes her way to where Helena is standing and pulls her in for a kiss, Renee has teased them the first few times this has happened, by now just rolling her eyes at them, something they both skillfully ignore.

Helena has been worried when they have officially begun dating, that her lack of experience would ruin it all, that she’d mess it up and not only destroy the relationship, but the team, as well; they have been together for a few months now though and it’s going well, it’s strangely easy to be with Dinah, she feels as if they have been made for each other and now that they have found each other, nothing will force them apart again. 

Dinah is patient and caring with her, Helena quickly has realized, not put off by her lack of experience and reassuring her they would do this at her pace; they haven’t done much more than some heated making out on the couch and in bed, the farthest Helena has dared to go has been cupping Dinah’s breast through her shirt, she’s been quick to learn how to kill a man when she has started her training, but she needs more time with this, she knows this will be a big thing for them and she doesn’t want to mess it up.

“You coming to my place?” Dinah asks her once they have pulled apart again, and Helena nods - they are spending most evenings at Dinah’s home, as it’s more comfortable and homely than Helena’s somewhat sterile apartment, the assassin having made Dinah laugh hysterically one evening shortly after they have gotten together, by bringing the most secure lock she has been able to find and insisting to install it right away.

“Keep it together for now”, Renee scolds them as she rejoins them, pointedly looking at where Dinah’s hand is resting on Helena’s butt, the singer smirking in response while she pulls her hand back, “no making out in the backseat again, you hear me? Let’s go, police will be here any minute now.”

They all get moving and head to her car, Renee strictly telling Dinah to ride shotgun, as the last time they have been in the backseat together, they have spent the whole ride making out, unimpressed when Renee has told them they are acting like horny teenagers.

She drives them to Dinah’s home first, telling them she’ll spend the night at Ellen’s and earning raised eyebrows from Dinah for that, after how she has poked fun at them for kissing, Renee not making any comment though, just telling them to have a nice night as they both get out of the car.

Dinah leads the way to her apartment, aware of Helena’s eyes on her as she walks up the stairs; there is something different about the way Helena is looking at her tonight though, she’s not quite sure what it is, but she knows it’s there.

She doesn’t want to put any sort of pressure on Helena though, and decides to just wait and see how the evening continues; once in her apartment, she declares she’ll take a shower now, earning a brief nod from Helena, and retreats to the bathroom, washing off the evening’s sweat and grime, holding back a low groan as the hot water relaxes her muscles.

Perhaps, she’s in the shower a bit longer than strictly necessary, but she knows Helena won’t mind; finally, she does make herself get done and wraps herself up in a large towel, then moves to find Helena, figuring the assassin is waiting for her in the living room, probably cleaning her crossbow as this is what she usually does while she waits for Dinah to get done in the bathroom after a mission.

To her surprise, she finds Helena in the bedroom instead, sitting on her bed and staring at her hands; she looks up at Dinah when the singer enters though, and again there is  _ weight _ in her gaze, enough that Dinah briefly falters before she moves to sit next to her, suddenly worried.

“Are you okay?” she asks, a bit relieved when Helena nods; the assassin clears her throat, then looks at her, Dinah taking note of how she nervously plays with the blanket she is sitting on, but even though she is clearly nervous, Helena clearly has something on her mind, and wants to say it. 

“I want to tell you something”, she starts, Dinah reaching over and grasping her hand and giving her an encouraging look, Helena clearing her throat once more before she goes on, “but you know I’m not… good at those things so… But I want to. I want you to know.”

Dinah nods in reply, but doesn’t say anything, she knows how hard this is for Helena and if she interrupts her in the wrong moment, this will only get worse; and she can tell that Helena is struggling to keep looking at her, not allowing herself to look away despite how hard it is for her.

“When they started teaching me”, Helena begins after sorting her thoughts for a few more moments, “Luca once said that… that what had happened to my family built walls around my heart. And that this was a good thing, because all I need for my mission would be the anger, and the walls would hold anything else back.”

That doesn’t sound psychologically healthy to Dinah, but she just nods again, and squeezes Helena’s hand; the assassin takes in a deep breath, then continues, and as she speaks, Dinah’s heart melts at her words.

“I thought he was right”, Helena tells her, “the way people would react to me seemed like he was, it seemed like, apart from him and the other two guys, no one ever… got me. They’d all think I’m weird and strange, even the people I just met for two minutes, when I got a coffee or something, I could tell. But then… then I met you.”

Dinah squeezes her hand again, now having a vague idea where this might be going, and still not saying anything; Helena is blushing a bit, but keeps going, she has been thinking about this for a while and she wants to say it now, before she might lose her nerve.

“I met you, and you… got me”, Helena lets her know, making her smile a bit, “already when we’d just started working together, you did. And I felt so drawn to you, but I was sure I’d only ever be your friend, because why would you want me, I’m messed up and weird and you’re… you. But then you did want me and I was happier than I ever had been and… and you took the walls down. All of them.”   


“Aw, Helena”, Dinah lets out, deeply touched now, having to swallow heavily; Helena has said she’s not good with words, but she’s finding all the right words now, and Dinah wonders if she’ll say any more thoughtful things and maybe manage to make her cry. 

“I love you”, Helena tells her, and Dinah’s breath catches, she hasn’t quite expected this, not yet, but then, she realizes Helena’s whole little speech has been building towards this moment, and she can only imagine how much courage and willpower it has taken the assassin to say those words, “I know it’s only been a few months, and it might be too soon to say this, but it’s what I feel, and I want you to know. I love you.”

“I love you too”, Dinah lets her know, she knows Helena is right and they haven’t been together for that long, but it feels just as right for her as it clearly does for Helena, “and here you said you’re not good with words. You almost made me cry.”

She wipes at her eyes and manages a watery smile, Helena smiling back at her; then, she leans in to kiss her, and as her hand slides beneath her shirt, Dinah quickly realizes that Helena has more on her mind, even though what happens now is more about actions than words.

When they fall asleep in each other’s arms hours later, tired out and satisfied, they are happy and content, and as she rests in Helena’s loose embrace, Dinah simply knows they will keep on being happy for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done :D Thank you all for reading, commenting and leaving kudos - hope to see you at the next one ;)


End file.
